Beepin’ Watch
It was so cool to hear the story of a middle school girl, who was concerned she might get in trouble for the watch beeping during class. She went for it anyway and discovered four of her teachers are also doing the 60-60 Experiment!
One thing I find as the weeks roll on is that the watch beep can develop another kind of habit—instinctively shutting it off and not doing much more than that! It just becomes a beepin’ annoyance. When I start to notice this, I have to shift how I’m responding when it beeps. Recently, I’m trying to take a minute or two to reflect on the past hour and pray for the next hour. Sometimes I need to practice gratitude with every beep. I find I need to adjust how I respond to the beepin’ watch along the way.
The ultimate goal is that we’re learning to stay open to God every moment of the day, talking over every thought, every sin, every celebration, every worry, every work project, every interaction so we stay experiencing His love and grace, and become more able to receive His guidance between the beeps. So when the beep is not serving to reorient me toward this, I have to remember the beep is NOT the point, every 60 minutes is NOT the point—these are just training wheels to help me learn to ride the bike more naturally!
As you do this experiment, don’t miss the point. Find ways to adapt and adjust so that you experience growing conversation and connection with the God who says his desire is that you “remain in His love” throughout the day. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” John 15:9
My wife & both of our kids are doing 60/60 too, so when we’re all in the house together we might hear multiple beeps going off every hour! While that can get confusing (”Whose beeper is going off?!?”) it just provides another opportunity to stay connected, especially if we missed our own the last time.
Also, I’m not sure how it happened but a stopwatch I keep in my desk at work is now beeping at the start of every hour, so I now have 2 reminders during the day. Despite doing this experiment for nearly 2 months I still find myself thinking “the beeper is going off, I need to stop for a moment, but this email I’m reading is so interesting….” We’re all susceptible to ignoring the beep, so when that happens let’s just pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and thank God for His grace, which says there’s another beep coming in 59 minutes.
Comment by notan — October 22, 2008 @ 7:33 am
In small group last night. Three beepers went off within seconds of each other and all parties turned them off and kept on with the discussion. At the next pause I ask the other two “Did you tell God you would get back to him later, I did.” there reply was yes. So I’m not the only one. When we started 60/60 that would have never happened. We issued a challenge to make a conscious effort to listen for the “beepers”
Comment by ATOTIPPY — October 23, 2008 @ 7:15 am
I have been so full of self-condemnation towards myself for the last few days because I was not only telling God I’d get back to him but I was starting to not hear the beep! I was so frustrated last night and I knew I didn’t want to give up trying but I didn’t know how to continue- I was feeling like a failure every hour, on the hour. So I’m ever-so-thankful for this blog today, reminding me that I am not condemned, God’s grace is new today and that it’s not about the beeps but the relationship.
Comment by ZenToast — October 23, 2008 @ 9:32 am
New to faith, I was concerned that I was “falling behind” by secretly NOT SETTING the beeper. But, I posted a wallet sized pic of Jesus (that I FOUND) on my dashboard on the speedometer (to remind me to be safe). This picture keeps me focused on a God-centered life, instead of the self-centered, chaotic exsistence I once lived. Praying for patience during the day, remaining calm and kind towards others-I know Jesus is there walking with me. My desires to drift towards the people who were not healthy for me has gone away. I have even prayed to Jesus for his help in realsing me from constant reminders of the past that would make me depressed. It’s a journey I’m excited about walking-but not alone. Michelle
Comment by artsytipe — November 2, 2008 @ 9:59 pm