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Tool, Toy, or Tangent? {or how to pull the plug on wasting time}

electric socket and clock on the green wallI have a love/hate relationship with the phenomenon that is the Internet. Especially social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or my personal fav Instagram.

What I love?

The way it keeps me connected to my loved ones and friends, allows me to spy onโ€ฆuhโ€ฆerโ€ฆย keep up withย my kidsโ€™ cohorts. I love being able to post a request for people to pray when there has been an accident or tragedy. I enjoy finding a new recipe for our familyโ€™s Sunday supper. And I love re-connecting with some people from my past.

What I hate?

The way, if left unchecked and without boundaries in place, that social media morphs into a ginormous black hole, sucking time, wasting energy and diverting from the important to the trivial. (Do I really care what someone had for lunch or need to know who got to a new level in an online game today?)

So with the time I spend online, as with many pastimes, people, or possessions in my life, I have to ask myself this:

Is this aย tool?

Aย toy?

Or aย tangent?ย 

The Internet in general is a fabulous tool โ€”ย  tool for God and good: organizing meals for a hurting family, taking an online Bible study. Or it can be a tool for evil: twisted-mind people, pornography, hate.

It can also be a toy.

Nothing wrong with toys in our lives! We all need a little frolic and relaxation. So, if you want to harvest your peas, plant your corn and feed your livestock, go right ahead friend. Have a grand time playing those little games.

Just please donโ€™t ask me to do it. That sort of stuff stresses me right out!

What knocks us off course and crosses the line is when any activity becomes a tangent;ย a sudden diversion off course that is totally irrelevant to the tasks at hand.ย (Okayโ€ฆthat wasnโ€™t the textbook definition which all speak of geometry and other math terms. That is a combo of a few online definitions and my own regretful experience!)

Tangents torch our time.

Tangents sap our strength.

Tangents make us ignore people who need our attention.

Tangents assist us in our procrastination.

Rather than tackle the task we should, we spin our wheels on a tangent. We feel weโ€™re being productive, doingย something, but in reality, we arenโ€™t accomplishing.

Weโ€™re avoiding.

What else can be a tool, a toy or a tangent?

Possessions.

Remember the saying, โ€œWhat you own can own you?โ€ When you have an over abundance of โ€œstuff,โ€ย  you must spend time maintaining your stuff, cleaning your stuff, and forking out money and oodles of time fixing your stuff when it breaks.

Stuff can be a time-sucking tangent.

So can people. Andย hobbies.

However, if we prayerfully and carefully, and withย allย honesty ask ourselves,ย โ€œIs this a tool, a toy or a tangent?โ€ย we can begin to weed out frustration in our schedules. We can free up time (taken from the tangents) for the important missions God has for us; to use our tools to touch others and to live our lives in a meaningful, not frivolous, way.

Oh, and donโ€™t forget to leave at least a little of the โ€œtoyโ€ category in the mix.

All work and no play, well it may make Jack a dull boy, but it also makes a momma {or papa} ย completely blow a gasket sometimes.

No example needed. {Although if you were friends with my kids on Facebook, Iโ€™m sure they could give you plenty ofย  colorful instances!}

Are you with me? Make your prayer this week,ย beforeย you spend a chunk of time you have at handโ€ฆ..

โ€œLord, is this a tool, a toy, or a tangent?โ€

Blessings,

Karen

letitgo_cover-4Need more encouragement on this topic? Want to take control of your time instead of wasting it away?

Check out my bookย LET IT GO: How to Stop Running the Show & Start Walking in Faith.ย 

It will help you to know how to control what you can, trust God with what you canโ€™t, and most importantly, how to decide which is which!

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2 Comments

  1. Please pray for me as I am struggling with my relationship. My boyfriend and I have been together for almost 3 years. The main thing for me in the relationship is trust, loyalty and faithfulness (I’ve been always struggling with those because I grew up with the example if my father being a liar and a cheater and the person who never took responsibility for the pain he’d caused our family). My boyfriend betrayed and lied to me in the past couple times. I am hurt and don’t trust him. He said he wants to be with me and is sorry for his past actions. He wants to be a good man to me. I became very angry, bitter, resentful and demanding with him. I feel like our relationship is falling apart. Please pray for me so I can find forgiveness in my heart and let it go, so I stop demanding things from him and start putting my trust in God for the first time…So I can stop being anxious and afraid of people/him him in particular hurting me and betraying me again behind my back. Thank you! Angela

    1. Hi,
      I wish that you pray for me as I am trying to find a job after being let go from my previous employer. I was a stellar performer and loved my job. I helped the department to achieve increased sales over last year. A new manager came and gave me a different department that was not doing well, and said it was an opportunity to grew. 2 months later, I was called into the office to say that she don’t see me as promotable and has to let me go.

      I was so hurt. They gave me 2 months severance pay and I have been looking for a job for 1 month now. I have had 4 interviews but have not been offered the job. Please pray that I find a job soon and I can be a testimony to others that God has something great in our future if we just wait on him. And I will pray for you all.

      Thank you.

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