The Unwired Mom

When Five Minutes Becomes Two Hours

You all have seen me lately talking about being in real life more and online less. My children are growing and moving on right before my very eyes, and I don’t want to miss these years, these days, these moments… because I know I can’t get them back. Well, I’m not the only one. And one mom even wrote a book about it.  I asked her to come share her heart and book with us here so we can all encourage each other in swimming against the current.  

The Unwired Mom

“I often wonder what my kids’ memories of me will be.

Will they remember me playing with them, cuddling, reading, cleaning, going places and spending time with their daddy, or will they remember a mom who was on the computer? What will the bulk of their remembrances be?

I want to pay attention, daily, to how I’m spending my time. How I spend my time will add up to my life, and it is just this one earthly life that I have – this one life that my babies will remember and think about one day when they get older. What if someone were to ask them, “What does your mommy love most?” Would they think of their daddy, or themselves, or Jesus, or would they think of my computer? How do they see me spending the majority of my time?

My babes are important to me, and I want them to grow up knowing how to live a real life in the real world. I want them to have strong, lovely memories of me because I know they will be healthier for it, emotionally and spiritually.

How much time I spend online means something to them.

And it means something to me, because I want to really live. I want to live where God has placed me, with the people He’s placed me with. I want to get outside

myself and get uncomfortable and do things that matter. In the real world. For real, hurting people.

And for the people in my care.

So that’s why five minutes matters.

That’s why it’s important to use this gift of time well, because it all adds up to something or nothing. And I want something.”

~ Sarah Mae

{This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure page for details.}

Five minutes does matter, doesn’t it? Sarah Mae’s book, The UnWired Mom, offers encouragement, vision, practicality, and a two-week challenge designed to equip you with healthy online habits so you can live fully present and purposeful in your real life. Buy The UnWired Mom as a pdf or for Kindle and begin your two week challenge to disconnect today!  signature-heidi

SM1000bwcontrast-265x300Sarah Mae is the wife of Jesse and the mother of the three spunky, beautiful children. She is the author of the best-selling eBook, 31 Days to Clean – Having a Martha House the Mary Way, the co-author of the book, Desperate – Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe, and a contributor to the DaySpring blog, (in)courage.

If you love cozy socks, coffee, Little Women, and candles, you might be her kindred spirit. You can find her blogging {almost} daily at SarahMae.com, tweeting @sarahmae, or Facebooking (is that a word?) at SarahMaeWrites.

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About Heidi St. John

Heidi has been married to her husband Jay since 1989. Together they have seven children and three grandchildren! The St. Johns homeschooled their kids all the way through high school. Heidi is the the author of seven books, host of the popular podcast "Off the Bench," and the founder of MomStrong International, an online community of women learning God's Word and how to apply it to every day life. She and her husband Jay are also the founders of Firmly Planted Family and the Firmly Planted Homeschool Resource Center, located in Vancouver, Washington.

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