Hey there and welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading titled, Appetite for Distraction, was written by Adamar Holes.

I set my phone down, weary of the constant bombardment of images, ideas, and notifications that the little screen

broadcasted.

Then, I picked it up and turned it on again.

Why?

In his book, The Shallows, Nicholas Carr describes how the internet has shaped our relationship

with stillness.

What the net seems to be doing is chipping

away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. Whether I'm online or not, my mind now expects

to take in information the way the net distributes it in a swiftly moving stream of particles.

Once, I was a scuba diver in the sea of words.

Now, I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski.

Living life on a mental jet ski doesn't sound healthy,

but how do we begin to slow down,

to dive deeply into still spiritual waters?

In Psalm 131, David writes, I have calmed and quieted myself. David's words remind me that I have responsibility. Changing habits start with

my choice to be still, even if I must make that choice over and over again.

Slowly, though, we experience God's satisfying goodness. Like a little child, we rest in contentment,

remembering that he alone offers hope. Soul satisfaction that no smartphone app can touch and no social media site can

deliver. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is Psalm 131.

My heart is not proud, Lord.

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