Lent Day 16, Thursday, March 5, 2026

“No TV, Internet, or Social Media”

Today’s Lenten challenge may stretch us a bit. No television. No unnecessary internet. No social media for twenty-four hours.

If your work or an urgent personal matter requires you to be online, that is understandable. Use what you must. But do not create extra reasons to scroll, stream, or wander down digital rabbit holes.  If you need the news, read a newspaper or listen to it on the radio. If you opened this devotion online, read it and then close the app. Let today be different.

For one day, step away from the screens that so easily consume our attention. Most of us know we spend more time online than we should. We do not need another study to tell us that. We feel it.

These technological tools are blessings in many ways. They connect us. They inform us. They entertain us. But they also distract us. They crowd out silence. They compete for our focus.

Today, choose quiet over noise.  Go outside. Notice the sky. Listen to birds instead of notifications. Pick up a real book. Sit in silence. Pray without interruption. Let your thoughts settle.

If today truly cannot be screen-free, schedule a different day soon and commit to it. The goal is not guilt. The goal is space.

We need this. We need moments that are not filtered through a screen. We need to remember what stillness feels like.

It may not be the most popular challenge, but it might be one of the most freeing.  For twenty-four hours, unplug what you can. Offer the quiet to the Lord.

“God says, ‘He says, “Be still, and know that I am God…’ “ (Psalm 46:10a, NIV)