SCREEN-TIME BALANCE--IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE?

When my first son came into the world it was clear from the start that he would be in charge.  Everything I thought I knew about parenting went out the window that first week.  After years of trying to apply advice from dozens of parenting books and well-meaning friends to boot, we settled into a philosophy that went something like this:  Give him as much rope as you can, but not enough to hang himself.  Of course we never knew how much was too much but by his prepubescent years we felt like we were just starting to get the hang of things.   

Then came son number two.  Rope?  He didn’t even care if there was a rope.  Laid back, quiet and happily compliant, this strange creature seemed suspiciously easy to care for, but we soon realized that once again, we had no idea what the heck we were doing.  Simply put, nothing I’ve ever done has been harder or more fraught with anxiety, guilt, self-recrimination and humble pie than being a parent.  


Please know then, that the suggestions I am about to offer to you moms and dads of digital natives for whom the landscape changes daily, are just that—suggestions.  No one really knows the answers yet regarding how much screen time is too much, or what effect all of this is having on our kids’ brains and social development.  But most experts agree that we need to be mindful of what is at stake, as I’ve noted in my last two blogs (See Part one and Part Two of this series), and manage their digital lives accordingly.  

To that end, take what works for you below, pass along what might be helpful to someone else, and always have a sense of humor and a whole lot of patience with yourself and your kids.  Please note that screen time includes any time in front of a screen, whether it is a TV, tablet, smartphone, video game, e-reader, computer etc. 

Also, as the old adage notes, kids learn more by what is caught than taught, so make sure you are working at managing your own screen time, along with theirs.  If they see you continually checking your smartphone etc., they are not going to be too interested in what you might have to say about balance and brain health.
  

•  Share what you know.  Your kids are surrounded by other kids who have no limits on their screen-time and will likely be frustrated when you don’t let them do the same.  Don’t just lay down a bunch of rules—especially with older kids—but share what you know about the brain and why this really does matter.  (There are numerous blog posts here about this.)

• Track every family member’s total screen-time,
  
  including your own for a few days: You may be surprised at how much time you and your kids’ brains really are fixed on a screen, once you put it all together.  Be sure to include watching TV —that is a central component of screen-time in most households.

   

• Set a screen-time schedule: Once you know how much time you are all spending, decide what you feel is the maximum that is reasonable for each person on a daily basis.  Share this with them—perhaps make a graphic for the fridge, and use timers to enforce.  Be firm when the alarm goes off, rather than waffling in the moment as your kids beg you for a few more minutes, one more game, show etc., or as you personally wrestle with answering or reading one more Facebook post or text.

Make it clear that screen-time is a privilege, not a right.  This may be the hardest of all, given the cultural influence, but it is so critical.  You will most likely have to repeat this as a mantra over and over again for your kids to get it.  Don’t be afraid to take screen-time away when you need to and to require that certain conditions be met in order to receive the privilege.  

So that's it!  Obviously the list could go on and on, but this blog is simply to help you jump-start the process.  I hope it helps--would love to hear from you parents of digital natives about how you are navigating the wild and wonderful, yet often terrible tyrant of technology.  

A final note: This blog is designed for those on a life journey with Jesus who want to learn to walk in greater intimacy with him.  Screen-time may be the most important issue of our age to address in this regard.  To read why, see my blog post here. 

SCARED TECHLESS

A few days ago I read about a BBC documentary called “Web Junkie” that tells the story of three teenagers in China who were sent to a government rehabilitation program to cure their “internet addiction.” Given last week's blog post; Momma's Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be Tech-Zombies, I felt compelled to watch it.  It was sobering, to say the least.  (I downloaded it on Vudu.com, but you can watch a trailer here.)

China, a country saturated with internet cafes where computers hold thousands of teenagers captive 24/7, has declared this a mental disorder and established dozens of boot-camp like programs where desperate parents—usually through some form of trickery—drop their kids off for a minimum of three months.  The treatment is draconian and pretty abusive, but as I listened to the parents weeping and pleading with their sons, I couldn't help but think of my friend I told you about last week, who is at his wit's end trying to figure out how to get his 15-year-old off of the web. 

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The risks are great and parents need to be aware, because the decisions you make for your kids now regarding screen-time will be critical in shaping their souls as they grow up. 

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As I shared last week, I don't normally get into parenting issues, but when I look to the future, I believe nothing threatens the spiritual life of our children, and thus our future as a whole, like the tentacles of technology that reach into every area of our lives.  The risks are great and parents need to be aware, because the decisions you make for your kids now regarding screen-time will be critical in shaping their souls as they grow up.    

One caveat before I share a little about what these risks are:  Technology is here to stay and we would be foolish to think that we can return to some simpler era or ignore the cataclysmic rate of change our children must learn to live with.  We all love the internet and the amazing possibilities opening up for us every day.  I, for one, have become smitten with Siri, my personal assistant who does the math when I double a recipe, estimates mileage and times for my family vacation, reminds me to change the laundry or make a phone call, and gets me out of more geographical jams than I care to admit.   
But this is all the more reason we need to make informed choices--so that we can give prepare our kids for what lies ahead.  As it is, they spend more time engaging with media than anything besides sleeping, according to a 2010 study that showed 8 to 10-year old's averaging eight hours a day, and older kids and teens more than eleven hours a day.  (The same study revealed that less than a third of all children said they were given limits on screen-time)

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As powerful as knowledge can be, we are formed more by what we do than what we know.  This means that no matter how much you try to teach your children or share important truths with them, in the end, their daily activities will win out in shaping the kind of people they will become.

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What this means is that very few parents today enjoy unfettered access to their child's mind and heart as previous generations did.  In the rest of this post I want to share the risks this poses, particularly as you consider your child's spiritual development.

THE RISKS OF TAKING TECHNOLOGY LIGHTLY

As I've noted over the past several months, neural pathways are formed in our brains based on our life experiences day in and day out, and this determines in large part the kind of people we are.  Because children's brains do not fully develop until their early twenties, the way that they spend their time in their early years is critical for developing lasting values and character.  As powerful as knowledge can be, we are formed more by what we do than what we know.  This means that no matter how much you try to teach your children or share important truths with them, in the end, their daily activities will win out in shaping the kind of people they will become.  

With that in mind, here is a smattering of what research is revealing happens to kids who spend too much time engaged with technology:

• Diminished imagination and creativity: too much screen time produces kids who feel bored and lost without their devices, yet have no idea how to fill the time because they never developed the imaginative capacities needed for healthy growth.
• Stunted social skills: Digital overuse makes kids less able to connect with and interpret social cues, particularly the nonverbal kind.  Since over 60% of our communication is nonverbal, this is a serious disability for navigating our world, and for healthy relationships.
• A disconnect from reality: Kids today live in two worlds--the virtual and the real, but they often do not understand the difference, and the lines are so blurred that many kids believe the virtual is more important. 
• Inability to think critically or problem-solve: Because the web fosters reading snippets and continual reliance on outside information, children are not learning how to think deeply or critically and many even resist trying.
• Anxiety and addictive behavior: As I noted last week, there is a resistance to calling screen-time addiction because we all rely on it so much.  However, all the signs are there when kids are forced to withdraw from technology.  They experience anxiety, anger, frustration, and even depression.  In fact, one important study found that resisting cravings for screen-time was harder than almost any other addiction--smoking, drinking or sex, included.

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Kids today live in two worlds--the virtual and the real, but they often do not understand the difference, and the lines are so blurred that many kids believe the virtual is more important.  

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These are only a few of the concerns--the list is really pretty lengthy.  But my purpose in this blog is to bring all of this back to our role as those whom God has called to shepherd our children's souls in ways that foster their spiritual growth and desire for relationship with him.  For those of us who have responded to God's invitation to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our heart's desire is that our kids will share our destiny of walking intimately with Jesus so that they become more like him in every way.  Jesus himself modeled what this would look like in two very simple ways.  First, he spent time alone with his Father, and second, he listened for his Father's voice as he moved and worked and interacted with others in the world.

We all know what it's like to wrestle with trying to live as Jesus did--times of solitude in God's presence are hard to come by, and the distractions of life can cause us to go through entire days or even weeks without really listening for his voice.  We've learned from experience that while God abundantly provides the grace we need; availing ourselves of that grace requires arduous and intentional discipline.  But for children who from birth have been immersed in a digital universe, the neural pathways that are being deeply formed in their brains will make this almost impossible.

Of course God is far more powerful than technology, and given the brain's plasticity, change will always be possible. But when we have the privilege of paving the way for our kids to more readily respond to God's grace, why not do everything possible to that end?  In short, I believe that the greatest risk we incur by not managing our kid's digital lives, is that it will be more difficult for them than any previous generation to engage in a transforming relationship with Christ.  

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In short, I believe that the greatest risk we incur by not managing our kid's digital lives, is that it will be more difficult for them than any previous generation to engage in a transforming relationship with Christ.  

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In the next post I will offer some ideas on how you can handle this cultural phenomenon in a way that fits your family.  But let me end with this: Everything I have written about our children is true for you and me as well--the risks are the same.  We too are entrenched in technology that threatens to rob us of the very thing for which we were created and called of God.  We ourselves need balance and discipline here every bit as much as our kids do.  And while we don't have to have it all figured out before we start addressing this in our homes, we definitely need to be taking these issues seriously for our personal lives and making some hard choices day in and day out.  More about that next time. 

SEND A SUGGESTION--WIN A BOOK: If you have a great idea about how to help your kids manage screen time, please send  an email with your idea plus your name and address to: tricia@soulatrest.com.   I will choose three of the best to receive a free copy of my book: Sacred Chaos: Spiritual Disciplines for the Life you Have.    

MAMAS DON’T LET YOUR BABIES GROW UP TO BE TECH-ZOMBIES

The other day I was chatting with a friend who is at his wits end with his 15-year-old.  Lamenting that his son had gotten to the point where he didn’t want to do anything but stay in his room and text friends, watch movies or play video games, my friend said he felt helpless to change things.  Every time they've tried to limit screen time for this typical teenager, not only has he become anxious and out of sorts, but the least little thing would set him off and he’d rage around the house making everyone miserable.  Grasping at straws, this frustrated mom and dad had finally put their foot down and told their son he was going to be involved in some sport the next year in school, making him so angry that he is now refusing to speak to any of them at all.   

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Your generation stands in the middle of a massive shift from an analog to a digital world that affects every part of our lives, and no one has really had enough time to thoroughly think through how to handle it, or what the outcome might be if we get it wrong for these digital natives. 

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I have never ventured into parenting advice in this blog, but because I keep hearing stories and complaints like these, and in light of some things I learned  doing research for my new book, The Wired Soul: Finding Spiritual Balance in a Hyper-Connected World (not due for release until Summer, 2016), I felt compelled to share a few thoughts.  My passion is spiritual formation for Christ-followers, and honestly--this couldn't be more relevant.  If this doesn’t apply to your life situation, perhaps you can pass it on—someone will be glad you did! 

If you have kids anywhere from one to eighteen, I believe

their ever-increasing compulsion to engage with technology--smartphones, computers, tablets, video games etc.-- is the greatest parenting challenge you face.  As I shared with my troubled friend that day—your generation stands in the middle of a massive shift from an analog to a digital world that affects every part of our lives, and no one has really had enough time to thoroughly think through how to handle it, or what the outcome might be if we get it wrong for these digital natives.  A decade or two from now there will be an abundance of information and evidence, but for now we only know bits and pieces, so parents have to stumble along trying to figure it out as they go.  

To make matters worse, things are changing at such an exponential speed that decisions and plans today will be obsolete within a few months and you’ll have to renegotiate the entire process once again.  For example, do you have any idea what you will do when the Oculus VR becomes a household “must-have,” as it soon will, according to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg? (If you haven’t heard of it, go ahead and Google it or click here to read Zuckerberg’s comments.
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To make matters worse, things are changing at such an exponential speed that decisions and plans today will be obsolete within a few months and you'll have to renegotiate the entire process once again. 

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Over the next few posts I am going to share three things that may be helpful for those  parents dealing with digital issues on a daily basis.  This post will explore why this behavioral issue is different from any other and therefore demands a clear, coherent parental strategy, the next will look at what is at stake, particularly for your child’s spiritual well-being if you don’t forge one now, and the final post will offer some practical tips on how to go about doing so. 

WHY THIS IS SO DIFFERENT

Neuroscience has made amazing strides in understanding how the brain works over the past couple of decades, which I shared in an earlier blog.  In short, our brains have the property of plasticity, which means they are constantly changing based on what we do throughout our day.  When we engage in a certain behavior over and over again, neural pathways are laid down in our brains that set a pattern for how we act, whether we are aware of it or not.  This is how you established habits like brushing your teeth or riding a bike, so that now you can do them without even thinking. 

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The more your kids are digitally occupied, the more they will crave the kinds of connections that can only be found via technology. 

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So what kinds of neural pathways are being laid down when your child engages with a screen of any sort?  Ones that support constant movement, fast mental shifting, shallow thinking, dullness and short attention spans.  And because technology so thoroughly reinforces this conglomeration of behaviors, kids (and adults as well) will come to "need" continual stimulation, and as a result,  feel as if they can’t do without their device of choice.  

No one wants to use the word addiction, because we know that we can't live in the 21st century and not be digitally engaged.  And let’s face it—what parent doesn’t need the break that these devices provide as they captivate your kids so completely?  All of this makes it easy to just give in and give up on trying to impose any kind of discipline regarding them.

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Let's face it--what parent doesn't need the break that these devices provide as they captivate your kids so completely?

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PLEASE. DON’T. GIVE. UP.  The risks are just too high.  In the next post I’ll share some of what is at stake for your kids and our culture if parents don’t grab this bull by the horns and corral it now on behalf of these digital natives who have known no other kind of life.  

But for now,  be encouraged with the fact that no matter how old your kids are, or out of control things seem, no matter how frustrated you feel or what mistakes you may think you’ve made, it is never too late.  
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Any child's (or adult's) brain can be rewired for digital balance, and this is really good news.  

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Any child's (or adult's) brain can be rewired for digital balance and this is really good news.  It may not be easy, and in fact will take a ton of courage and determination, but I promise you that you can turn things around once you have a clear strategy in place.  More about that in a later post.     

Harper Lee, Lent and the Dying Art of Reading

I was elated at the news last week, that octogenarian Harper Lee is going to publish a sequel to her Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird.  I read that book for the first time, as most of you probably did, in freshman English class.  My teacher was Mrs. Bloomberg and the assignment was to find a life lesson in the book and write about it.  Mine came from a piece of advice that Atticus Finch gave his daughter, Scout:

“If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” 

 That simple lesson changed me profoundly as a young teenager, and continues to shape my worldview these many decades later.  It seemed almost serendipitous then, that Harper Lee’s announcement hit the news as I was writing the second chapter of my next book, titled: Does Anybody Really Read Anymore?  Here are a few snippets:

• People are reading less than ever before, according to government surveys about how we spend our time.  While Americans over the age of 75 read slightly more than an hour on any given Saturday or Sunday, teenagers from fifteen to nineteen consume an average of only four minutes. Compare that to the fact that this age group interacts with digital media a minimum of ten hours per day, with more than half of all eighteen to twenty-four year olds reporting that they never pick up a book to read just for pleasure.

• Our brains handle reading online vastly different from when we read a book in print.  In essence, when we look to a screen for our reading content, our brain assumes we want to get the job done as
  
  quickly as possible, so we skim the surface and jump from one paragraph to another.  This is true even when we read a good book on our Kindle.  We seem to read only 20 percent of the content on any kind of digital screen. 

• While the brain treats reading print media differently—allowing thoughtful reflection and a slower pace—because most of us spend the majority of our time looking at a screen, we are losing our capacity for deep reading, and as a result, deep thinking and learning (remember that the brain operates on a use-it-or-lose it basis.)

It’s pretty frightening to think what this could mean to those of us who follow Christ, particularly digital natives who have never experienced a life untethered to technology.  Without thinking deeply about God’s character or attributes or ways, we develop a shallow, vapid view of him, with our relationship revolving around our needs and desires rather than his infinite, transcendent glory.  

This is just one hidden danger related to our reading habits, but it does make me want to plead for a return to old-fashioned reading—the kind where you hold a book in your hands, smell the paper, fold down the corners, write in the margins and highlight key words.  I am not alone.  There is a Slow Reading movement that spans continents, calling for this very thing.  

As we approach the Lenten season, I hope you’ll consider using the time to read a good print book, one that will take you into the deep waters of Christ’s passion on Calvary.   A few that have been meaningful to me are: The Cross of Christ by John R. W. Stott, The Day Christ Died by Jim Bishop, and Reliving the Passion by Walt Wangerin.  If you’d like to know more about my book, Contemplating the Cross: a Forty Day Pilgrimage of Prayer, you can find reviews and a sample chapter here.  You can also purchase it here. 

Lent is a great time to pull back from being in perpetual motion through digital engagement with our computers, smartphones, televisions and tablets.  If you’d like some ideas on how to do this, click here.

Have a very blessed Lenten season, and may you read, think and learn more deeply of the glory of a God who gives his life on Golgotha’s hill than ever before.

Your Brain and New Year's Resolutions: The Good and Bad News

I’ve never been much of a fan of New Year’s resolutions, probably because more often than not I am in the 92% of the American population who fail to keep them.   Still, something about a new year gets me thinking about what has to change, and it’s usually connected to the fact that holiday goodies have bullied me into submission, depleting every vestige of will-power I possessed prior to Thanksgiving.  More about that later, but suffice it to say that I’m a perfect example of the good and bad news about our brains and resolutions.  So if you are in the 45% of Americans who DO make resolutions (or are even thinking about it), let me give you the good news first.      

THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT RESOLUTIONS

• People who set clear and tangible goals are ten times more likely to attain them.  This is likely because when we set our minds on something, we strengthen certain circuits between our brain cells, which in turn affects our behavior.  This means that the more we focus on a goal, the more our brain joins in to help us achieve it. 

• Every time we think about or act on our goal, we strengthen those neuropathways, moving us closer to making them a life pattern. 

• No matter how miserably we’ve failed in the past, our brains, due to their plasticity, are always able to change our outlook and behavior—thus we do not have to be victims of genetics, environment or even lifelong habits.   

But if all this is true, why is it that by next week, only 75 percent of us who made resolutions will be keeping them, and by the end of the year only eight percent will still be hanging on?  

Or, on a personal level, why did I succumb to holiday binging even after I’d spent three months retraining my brain to resist unhealthy eating patterns?  That leads to the bad news. 

THE BAD NEWS ABOUT RESOLUTIONS 

• Because our brains operate on a use it or lose it principle, in order to sustain lasting change, we have to continue to fire up those neuropathways between brain cells by thinking about and acting on our goals.
   
• The neuropathways we use most get stronger and stronger, while those we neglect, weaken.  It’s a lot like working out—the gains can be tremendous, but a few days away from the gym and it can feel like we’re starting all over again.  In my case, once I stopped focusing daily on healthy eating and let myself get carried away by the endless supply of holiday foods, I lost the ground I’d gained in my three-month vigil.
  

So what’s the takeaway here?  There are no quick fixes when it comes to making critical changes in how we think and live. However, when it comes to making and keeping resolutions, our brains can be our best friends—as long as we commit to the long haul of focusing on our goals and following through with them.  Indeed, there will come a time when our brains will function happily on autopilot, making it almost second nature for us to engage in the new pattern without even thinking about it.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF RESOLUTION

For the past several years, I have focused on a different kind of resolution, one that nourishes my soul, and is more about being than doing.  One of my most life-changing experiences was in 2009, when I spent 365 days focusing on what it means to live loved by God (Click here to read archived blog articles).  

This year the word I feel led to press into, is “kindness.”  I have started pondering things like: What does it mean to be kind?  What would it mean for me to be a kinder person on a daily basis?  I’m not sure what this is going to look like, but I am excited to engage my brain as I focus on this quality in a world that sorely needs it.

I’ve written a printable reflective exercise for those of you who who might want to enter 2015 with a being instead of doing goal--one inspired by the presence of God in your life.  Click here for more—it will only take about 15 minutes!  May you experience all God has for you in this coming year. 

Twelve Days of Christmas--Day Twelve

JESUS!

READ: Luke 2:1-7, Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 53:3-11, Revelation 4:1-11  (Click here to read selections from the NIV).

Have you ever stopped to consider what really happened when the Almighty entered into the womb of a woman--when the Son of God became the Son of man--flesh and blood, bones and joints, muscle and sinew?  I love the picture Daniel Fuller paints in his book Unity of the Bible, where he describes the incarnation as a winding staircase stretching from the glory of heaven to the world of wretched misery.  

While Jesus' descent to earth to redeem humankind began long before the foundation of the world, our first glimpse is in the stable that reeked of animal dung and moldy straw, where a newborn babe lay shivering in the chill of night, vulnerable to some of the worst conditions this globe could offer.

To me, the most stunning thing about Christ's descent from glory was His choice to let go of His role in sharing equality with God.  Though he retained his deity in essence, He chose to give up His rights as God in experience, requiring Him to depend upon His heavenly Father for whatever power or wisdom or guidance He might need.  

What must it have been like for the all-sufficient Son of God to know that soon he would be at the mercy of weak and sinful human beings? Can you see Him there, standing on that staircase just before the Spirit placed Him in Mary's womb?  What kinds of thoughts went through His mind?  Surely it must have felt as if He were stepping into a swirling abyss.

From that manger in Bethlehem, Christ's descent from glory soon continued.  His parents became vagabonds, settling as strangers in a foreign land where their livelihood depended upon Egyptians who probably detested them.  Later Mary and Joseph would establish their family in Nazareth, a place of derision even among the Jews for its lack of any distinguishing mark.  As Jesus prepared for public ministry in the wilderness fast, the god of the world He'd come to save taunted Him for his fall from power, daring Him to reclaim his rights as the Almighty.  He refused, and the descent went on. 

For the next three years, the Son of Man sought to do his Father's will while sleeping in fields and hills, looking to benevolent women for financial support, seeking solace through prayer in the wee hours of His dark and lonely nights.  Scorned by heathens, rejected by the religious elite, living under constant threat of death, the drumbeat of descent pounded out its rhythm day after difficult day.

Down and down and down the winding staircase Jesus went, as His closest followers denied and abandoned Him upon His arrest.  Then, mocked, spat upon, slapped, and scourged to a bloody pulp, he was paraded through the streets like a criminal and hung to die while His earthly mother looked on in despair.  And for six hours on Calvary, the Son of Man descended to the  very depths of depravity as he took on the sins of the world, leading to the most painful predicament of all--a severing of His relationship with His Father.

The Apostle's Creed asserts that Jesus even descended into hell, alluding to a verse in 1 Peter that may indicate that this took place between His death and resurrection.  While theologians disagree on whether this happened or not, it seems to me that Jesus had already experienced the very worst that hell had to offer when he was plunged into that black agony of separation from the one He'd loved and been loved by for all of eternity past.

This is just a smattering of the descent from glory that Jesus faced when He entered our world as a tiny baby.  We will perhaps only grasp the scope of it when we see Him one day on His throne, radiant in splendor, attended by angels and worshiped by saints from every tribe and tongue.  but there could be no better time to ponder such a thing than on Christmas Day, as we celebrate our Lord's birth.

So as we read the Christmas story and exchange our gifts and share our meals, let us take time to remember what it really cost to redeem fallen humankind.  May we muse on that manger scene through the prism of the panorama in glory, where our King reigns over all, His beauty filling the temple of the heavens and splashing out across our world in whispers of wonder that we are privileged to behold.  And as we do, let us bow and worship in some way befitting to the One who began that descent to secure your salvation and mine, long before this world was formed.  Worthy is the lamb who was slain.

REFLECT

Today is one of celebration, family, sharing and fellowship.  Take some time to give thanks for all of these things as you ponder that staircase.  See Jesus going down it step by step.  Read the following passage slowly and prayerfully, asking the Spirit to give you fresh revelation of what it meant for Jesus to humble Himself and become a man.

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)

RESPOND

Now read the rest of the passage, turning it into a prayer of praise and worship for the King of kings and Lord of lords, whose birth we celebrate today.

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11).

A CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY

ENJOY THE DAY! 

For a printable version of this devotional, click here. 

Twelve Days of Christmas--Day Eleven

ANNA: HUNGER FOR GOD

READ: Luke 2:36-38, Matthew 5:6, John 6:35  (Click here to read selections from the NIV)

Her name was Anna and she was the talk of the town. First there was that temple insanity. Day in and day out she’d practically lived there for as long as anyone could remember. Some claimed her pretense of piety had gone on for decades, ever since her husband died leaving her a young widow. Praying and fasting, fasting and praying, ignoring priests and prophets, even well born Pharisees, who wagged their heads at her foolishness.

And now…well it was beyond belief. Just like that, they say she flew out of the temple laughing like a lunatic, cornering anyone crazy enough to listen to her babbling about some baby destined to be the Messiah. What in the world had gotten into her?

I find the story of Anna fascinating– three short verses that resonate with joy and intrigue. Luke tells us little about this woman he calls a prophetess, except that she’d been widowed at a young age and had given herself to temple prayer and fasting ever since. She was most likely well into her 60’s or 70’s at the time of her encounter with the infant Messiah. 

The question that I can’t get away from when I read of this woman’s devotion, is why? What was it that kept Anna coming back day after day, praying… fasting… trusting that what she was doing was not in vain, though it had been centuries since Malachi had uttered the final prophecy about the Christ to come? 

 Perhaps in the beginning it was a way to heal her heart over her husband’s loss, but wouldn't a year or two have been sufficient to assuage her grief? And surely any ill-placed religious zeal or efforts to earn God’s approval with her piety would have faded away long before as well.

The answer might be found in bit of this woman’s heritage. Anna’s father’s name was Phanuel, derived from the altar Jacob built after wrestling all night with an angel. The name meant I have seen God face to face and I have lived (Genesis 32:30). Because names held great significance in the Hebrew culture, family members would have known well the meaning behind that of their patriarch’s. I can just imagine Phanuel holding little Anna on his lap and telling her the story of their forefather Jacob; of how he wrestled with God all night, refusing to let go until he blessed him. Perhaps Phanuel related the tale to the entire family with great dramatic flair, unfolding the details of the interaction with Deity that was so intense it put Jacob’s hip out of joint, causing him to limp for the rest of his life.


I have seen God face to face and I have lived.  The meaning behind her father's name could well have been a seed that was planted in Anna's young heart, captivating her with the idea that God in heaven sometimes peeled back the veil and allowed mere mortals to encounter Him, and be transformed in the process.  Perhaps in her quietest moments as a child, she had pondered that thought and prayed that one day she too could experience a divine visitation.  Then, when she faced the loss of her husband at such a young age, her grief may have become like oil thrown upon the flame of desire, igniting her passion to see God like never before.

But what had caused it to continue burning so brightly those tens of years later, when Mary and Joseph arrived in the Temple that day?  I believe it was because there in the shadow of the holy of holies, Anna had tasted of God's presence, and knew from experience that nothing else would ever satisfy her soul.  Her life became a testimony of a paradox all of Christ's lovers eventually learn, which is that we can both hunger for the Bread of Life and be filled by His tender touch, all at the same time.  This is, in fact, our very destiny--to be both satisfied and yet driven by desire for more of Him, until the day we too see Jesus face to face.


So as we look at this unique moment in the Christmas narrative, let us remember the woman who wouldn't let go, the saint whose hunger for God shaped her entire life.  May her zeal inspire us with fresh faith to believe once again that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him.  And with each foretaste of glory that He imparts, let us be reminded that our hunger for Him is a promise of a greater fulfillment yet to come.

Reflect       
Jesus used the words hunger and thirst to describe the condition of our souls without Him. Why are these metaphors so powerful? Have you ever considered that when you feel a dissatisfaction with the fact that God doesn't seem as near as you’d like, that this is hunger to drive you to Him even more? That He will both fill you and leave you with hunger at the same time?

Write a note to God seeking to describe your own hunger level for Him.

Respond

Now write a prayer of affirmation based upon these words of Jesus: He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believe in me will never be thirsty.

A CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY

As you snack on Christmas goodies and prepare for special meals--shopping, cooking etc.--think about the meaning of food, and what Jesus wants to use it to teach you about His relationship with you.

For a printable version of this devotional, click here.