So, recently I wrote about the new rage in personal accountability for health and fitness – this product called Fitbit. The idea is pretty simple – you wear a wristband that includes a rechargeable unit that tracks your steps and exercise for each day. There is also an optional scale that connects through the internet to your app on the iPhone and you can seamlessly record your weight each day – which, by the way, takes out the possibility of falsifying the data in your profile. I guess it is a way to be held a little more accountable in documenting your weight. Let’s face it – those of us who are a little on the heavy side tend to like shading the numbers just a little.
Anyway, I succumbed to peer pressure and now Janet and I both have these gadgets. Originally, Andrew convinced me to get one, but Janet wanted it – I gave mine to her and thought I was off the hook. However, we mysteriously now have a second Fitbit in the house – starting today.
Through becoming familiar with this item, I have read up on all the things it can do and, among other things, it can track your sleep patterns each night. The idea is quite simple – you tap the sensor several times until a series of lights flashes and then you turn over and go to sleep. In the morning, when you wake up, you tap it again, turning the sleep function off. You can check your phone app and get a synopsis of your sleep patterns through the previous night.
It’s kind of cool – a background of blue with little teal and pink lines delineating those times during the night when you were restless or awake – then, there is a summary about the total minutes you were restless or awake during the monitored period. While I don’t care too much about this feature, Janet sometimes has trouble sleeping through the night and she has become accustomed to checking her sleep patterns each day – until this morning.
Apparently, there seemed to be something amiss with Janet’s Fitbit. She couldn’t find her sleep pattern from last evening and so I tried to help make sure the unit had synced to the phone. Finally, I found the data, and that became the title of this post – 3 minutes awake and 4 minutes restless. Not bad for the entire night – especially for Janet. But…
one problem. I noticed the time stamp and it was from 7:03 until 11:03. Ah… Janet must have inadvertently turned it off early when she went to bed. But no… that wasn’t it – she accidentally monitored her DAY yesterday. Yep – 7:03 am until 11:03 pm last night. Talk about getting your days and nights mixed up. But then, I started laughing when I read the results – 3 minutes awake and 4 minutes restless – during the entire day! Now I know that Janet doesn’t run marathons or anything – but she is awake during the day!
So I started thinking about all the misleading information we get in our lives. We read things on the internet or pass along stories that we just don’t know to be true. And many times, we are led astray. And that’s exactly what Satan wants to do to us. He tries to lead us astray, using things that seem to be real at first glance, but on closer examination, the “facts” just don’t add up and we finally figure out, hopefully, that we have been duped.
That’s why it is important to stay focused on God. That’s the only way that we can keep from being deceived by those things that aren’t authentic. Our verse for the night comes from 2 Cor. 11:3, “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” These words were spoken by Paul to the church at Corinth. And just as Paul had a concern for his people, Jesus has a concern for all of us. We must be diligent in our faith – not easy targets for Satan to lead any of us astray.
My encouragement this evening is that God wants us to keep focused on Him. And my prayer is that even though you will undoubtedly be tempted by Satan many times during your life, God will keep you safely in the palm of His hand and you will keep your eyes firmly fixed on Jesus. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…