Thoughts on Internet

You know I was so excited to get the internet back, and I still am, but at the same time I'm glad that we had a little hiatus from the web. It put a lot of things in perspective. Without the internet, or indeed a radio or TV, for all intents and purposes we were cut off from the normal flow of outside information. We had to fall back on the old standards of phone books, maps, and libraries to find what we needed. And keeping up with family and friends became nearly impossible. (Especially since we didn't have long distance and I'm a horrible letter writer,which is a little ironic because receiving snail mail is just about my favorite thing in the whole world.) We lost contact with too many good friends and fell behind with important family information. But despite all that I actually enjoyed (most of the time) not have the constant connection. It was nice knowing that every little piece of information or media that came into our home was under our control. There was no junk mail, viruses, or crude material that could bombard you at the push of a button. We were oblivious of the latest crazes, gossip, or news, and found that 99% of the time we weren't missing much. Hours of our day weren't being sucked up in mindless browsing and window shopping. We found that we had more time to read a good book, clean the house, work on hobbies, and stare out the window at our beautiful world. But really we found that we had more time and room for each other and the Lord. Over the past year our home has become more spiritual, more of a sanctuary, and indeed more of a heaven on earth. I do not doubt that there were many reasons for this, but I am positive that not having the internet was a big part. The world had been put on hold. So even though I am thankful beyond words to be once again connected with those I love, I am grateful that for a brief moment in time the world went on without us, while we discovered a little bit more of the Lord and what really matters.