Small Practices of Authenticity
Or should I say truthfulness? Over the course of the last year or so, I have been signed up for three daily e-mail services, all of which are listed in my sidebar under "Spiritual Formation": Daily Saints, The Upper Room, and The Daily Dig. I have been thinking lately that I haven't been as "authentic" or "truthful" with myself regarding these as I should be. These are small, miniscule (some would say unimportant) actions, but I've felt the need to make a change.
You see, I don't typically access my e-mail over the weekend. Jillian and I do not have access to the Internet at home (this will change in about a month when we move into her grandfather's house). So over the weekend, a pile of two or three e-mails from Daily Saints and The Upper Room appears in my Inbox. Not much, I know, but still a small pile.
I made it a habit a while ago NOT to go back and read those e-mails. Too much catching up, too much looking to the past. Instead, I would mark them as read, label them, and archive them so that if I do an e-mail search in the future while, say, searching for resources on a given topic for FOCCUS, those e-mails can still be searched and used. No use throwing away possible great information in the e-mail trash. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It applies to e-mail, too (and thank God for Gmail, those search functions, archiving, grouping e-mails as conversations...what a help! If anyone needs a Gmail invite, let me know. I have a stockpile.)!!
Now, did you catch my little untruthfulness, my little unauthentic act in all of this? Yep, it's just the tiny part of where I MARK THE E-MAIL AS READ that has started to bother me. So, now I label them and archive them as is. Still in bold letters, showing me what I didn't read. In the past I may have felt guilty for not reading them. Now, I simply acknowledge it and move on.
Oh, and maybe you're wondering about the Daily Dig and weekends? The kind folks at the Bruderhof changed their policy sometime after I started my subscription so that they take a Daily Dig sabbatical for the weekend. Thanks, Bruderhof, for that example.
Yesterday's weight: Unknown | Yesterday's workout: None
You see, I don't typically access my e-mail over the weekend. Jillian and I do not have access to the Internet at home (this will change in about a month when we move into her grandfather's house). So over the weekend, a pile of two or three e-mails from Daily Saints and The Upper Room appears in my Inbox. Not much, I know, but still a small pile.
I made it a habit a while ago NOT to go back and read those e-mails. Too much catching up, too much looking to the past. Instead, I would mark them as read, label them, and archive them so that if I do an e-mail search in the future while, say, searching for resources on a given topic for FOCCUS, those e-mails can still be searched and used. No use throwing away possible great information in the e-mail trash. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It applies to e-mail, too (and thank God for Gmail, those search functions, archiving, grouping e-mails as conversations...what a help! If anyone needs a Gmail invite, let me know. I have a stockpile.)!!
Now, did you catch my little untruthfulness, my little unauthentic act in all of this? Yep, it's just the tiny part of where I MARK THE E-MAIL AS READ that has started to bother me. So, now I label them and archive them as is. Still in bold letters, showing me what I didn't read. In the past I may have felt guilty for not reading them. Now, I simply acknowledge it and move on.
Oh, and maybe you're wondering about the Daily Dig and weekends? The kind folks at the Bruderhof changed their policy sometime after I started my subscription so that they take a Daily Dig sabbatical for the weekend. Thanks, Bruderhof, for that example.
Yesterday's weight: Unknown | Yesterday's workout: None
posted by Josh Frank at 8:31 AM| permalink |
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