DISPLACED/REPLACED

PRACTICE: Center your thoughts on something that you have recently given up.

“I lost one pound this week by eating from home (no fast food) and small workouts…made me think…I am not giving up fast food (or a bad habit) but gaining health. A lot of times we think we are giving up stuff (sacrificing) but, we are gaining…gaining so much more. More than what we give up.” This is part of a text that a dear friend sent me early one morning recently.

As she said in her text, “made me think.” My default verbiage when I am changing or talking about changing a habit is to refer to it as a sacrifice. This is especially the case if the behavior that requires change is something that I find convenient and comfortable.

My husband and I spend far too much time on our cellular devices. It is our primary connection to the pandemic world – family, friends, foes, news, entertainment etc. We even text each other sometimes when sitting in the same room and it is our intercom when we are in our separate workplaces in our home.

To change the dependency that we have on these devices would be a major sacrifice plain and simple. However, if I can risk reshaping my thinking about sacrifice, I might discover unexplored gain.

This is where displace and replace enter.

If we are to displace the perceived convenience of our dependency on the cellular devices – we need to replace it with something that offers equal or greater value. My friend’s text ended with “Instead of saying, what do I give up, I’m going to say what do I want to gain?” My surface answer to that question just regarding the cellphone… Reclaimed time for reading an actual book and face to face interaction with others.

Luke 9:24

PONDER THIS THOUGHT---“A sacrifice is actually a gain not a loss of something.”