Mommy's only a mobster in her down time...

The addiction started innocently enough (they always do). I saw my friends were playing and I simply clicked on the link to see what it was all about. I didn't mean to start but one thing led to another and now I'm positively, absolutely hooked to Farmville and Mafia Wars on Facebook. It's like my dirty little secret, except it's not so secret. Lots of my [Facebook] friends are playing but you don't realize how many until you get sucked into the vortex yourself. And now I'm exhausted and I know I should be getting ready for bed but I have a compulsion to keep checking my mafia family on Mafia Wars.

The irony of Mafia Wars is not lost on me. In the game, I receive status updates from each player, such as Andrea just iced another mobster, bringing their total body count to 39 and then beside their status is their smiling profile picture posing with their children, as innocent as apple pie. The analogy can easily be used in so many aspects of life.

Most notably, it's the obvious analogy that started me thinking. Isn't it true that we project our innocent self forward and keep our dirty, dark thoughts in the background? And the dark thoughts are not given the light of day, that is, until we realize how many other people are involved in sordid lies and murderous practices and then we let the truth bubble to the surface as if it's normal. Our consciences wearing down so that we think it's normal.

I could go on further but my 20 minutes are up and there is a game that I need to check on.

just 20 minutes a day...

It's only 20 minutes, that's my goal. It's not much time but still I can't seem to stick to my own resolve. Twenty minutes a day to write; thoughts and ideas to write about constantly distract me throughout the day and each time I have a passing thought, I think to myself, "I really need to write that down when I get home," and then I return back to home and I don't bother to carve out a mere 20 minutes.

Today is different. Today I'm doing it, I'm really going to write for 20 minutes. The difference is because my routine is "new". New is great. New speaks about a fresh start, a different perspective. New isn't broken and most importantly, New hasn't failed yet.

I started a new Bible Study today, actually it started last night but the homework started today. I'm so excited about it and it makes me want to do better in other areas, like writing for 20 minutes a day. Writing, even for 20 minutes, helps me reflect on what's going on for me, moreover it helps me reflect what spiritual truths are obvious in and around my life.

For example, the whole concept of 'new'. God is always calling his people to a new thing. The Bible Study that I just started is about Abraham, Jacob and Isaac. The story starts with Abraham's call to "Go to a land I will show you...I will make you a great nation (something new), I will make your name great (something new), I will bless you (something new) and I will curse those who curse you (something new), and because of everything new that God promised to do for Abraham, all his descendents after him will be blessed and receive the blessing anew as well. Yea!

So this is new for me - a new study, a new focus for this year and a new resolve.

Time's up.