Day 10 of Reducing Stress and Finding More of Christ's Peace

Have you been going through 10 Minutes for 10 Days with me? If not, we're on Day 10, but you can start here and use Day 1 as your Day 2 or go through the whole thing backwards if you want :). Get your FREE devotional here. If so, We're on our final day. Can you beleive it? Here we go...

Try turning off your phone for 10 hours.
Why? Because we turn to our phones out of instinct. Remember my example from the intro about waving goodbye to my family? In those pauses where we’re standing in line, waiting for our friend to be ready, have five minutes to kill—we could be praying, thinking, worshipping, having a great conversation, resting—all things that bring us closer to God. When we put that dang phone down, we’re turning down the noise and making it easier to hear Jesus. Which is what we’ve been working on the past nine days.

photo by Arun Thomas via Pexels

Yes. Your phone. Yes. For ten entire hours. Do I know what I’m asking of you? Yes. Yes, I do. Remember, I’m going to do it, too. Actually I turn off my phone every week on my Sabbath to more fully unplug from the world and get closer to God. I’ll be honest. At first it was a trick and a half, but now I look forward to not having to answer any texts or messages, not needing to know what anyone is doing on social media. It’s incredibly freeing. 
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If there is no human way you could do this during the day because of people you’re responsible for or for safety reasons, I understand. So does God. I got a call from the school nurse yesterday about one of my kids. And that is why I always have my phone turned on during the school day. We all have times it’s best we have a way for people to get a hold of us. If some of these hours need to be while you’re asleep—that’s also fine. Set an old fashioned alarm clock or turn your volume up if you need to be reached, but vow to only answer incoming calls. Do what you have to do, but fast in some manner for ten hours from your phone. Each time you’re tempted to pick it up, instead try one of the things we’ve been doing throughout this study—take a deep breath, whisper a prayer, read a psalm, step outside, put something in a donate pile, sit on the piano bench and play a song that brings you closer to God.

Mark 6:31

Jesus said, “Come off by yourselves; let’s take a break and get a little rest.” For there was constant coming and going. They didn’t even have time to eat. —Mark 6:31
 
Journal prompt: How many times did you reach for your phone? If you had to do this again (I highly recommend you do) is there a different ten hours you would set aside or a different way you would handle this exercise? What emotions did you have? In what ways were you frustrated? In what ways did you feel free?
 
Congratulations! You did it! I’m so proud of you and so grateful for the ten minutes I spent each day focusing more on Jesus and less on the distractions of life. Feel free to start all over on day one and spend ten minutes praying tomorrow. Invite some friends or your small group to join you. Or try integrating some of these practices into your daily or weekly routine. None of it is meant to give you more to-dos, but actually to give you more freedom.

I pray you found some peace and joy and rest. I pray you exhaled over the past ten days and felt closer to God. One more time. Let's exhale the stress of the world. And inhale the peace Jesus offers. 

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