Hello, my friend!
I hope you’re having a wonderful day. It’s been just over a week since I broke up (yet again…) with Instagram, and I must say it’s made a drastic difference in my mental health. I know you don’t need me to tell you all the ways in which social media is literally designed to addict, distract, and propagandize, so I won’t go into it; suffice it to say, I feel myself thinking – and praying – more clearly, feeling less anxious and jittery, and experiencing far less “Comparisonitis.”
A few people I know are doing social-media fasts and, because of the incredible results experienced thus far, they are planning to extend their fasts indefinitely. I highly recommend committing to at least one week free of social media and see for yourself the ginormous difference it makes!
In this week’s Top 4, I’ll be sharing an insightful quote from one of my current reads called The Mystery of Catastrophe, wisdom from James Clear on the importance of carefully selecting our priorities, a humorous excerpt from Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery that made me literally LOL, and an encouraging reminder on the beauty of honesty, joy, and simple pleasures from Laura Ingalls Wilder.
The Reason for Adam and Eve’s Severe Expulsion
“God’s forcefully moving Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden set forth a pattern of forced displacement of people by God that we see in the whole narrative of Scripture. It all has to do with His global plan for His glory and the redemption of mankind. Had God not cast Adam and Eve out of the garden and placed the cherubim at the entrance to keep them from returning, they would have eaten from the Tree of Life and lived forever in a lost state of sin and separation from God. What a tragedy it would have indeed been had they lived in this perpetual state. God drove them out to save them. He had to bring about a traumatic crisis in Adam and Eve’s lives to prevent them from doing eternal harm to their souls and to the whole of mankind that would proceed from them.”
COMMIT AND IGNORE
“Highly focused people do not leave their options open. They select their priorities and are comfortable ignoring the rest. If you commit to nothing, you’ll be distracted by everything.” – James Clear
JAM IN HEAVEN
“‘Anyhow, there’ll be plenty of jam in heaven, that’s one comfort,’ he said complacently.
“Anne nipped a smile in the bud.
“‘Perhaps there will…if we want it,’ she said. ‘But what makes you think so?’
“‘Why, it’s in the catechism,’ said Davy.
“‘Oh, no, there is nothing like THAT in the catechism, Davy.
“‘But I tell you there is,’ persisted Davy. ‘It was in that question Marilla taught me last Sunday. ‘Why should we love God?’ It says, “Because He makes preserves, and redeems us.” ‘Preserves is just a holy way of saying jam.’”
A wonderful example of the power of the almighty comma!
THINGS THAT NEVER CHANGE
“The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder
Thank you, as always, for your support of my writing!