I admit it- I resent email. My personal account and my professional account just keep hounding me. Like a rerun of the Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day, they keep populating over and over again. I'm then faced with, as David Allen of GTD fame puts it, an executive decision about each and every email.

Lately though, I've been processing my inboxes and making connections with my faith. Here are three reasons why, even though email dogs me, I think email may actually benefit my faith:

Email teaches discipline. A clean inbox is a good inbox and just as it takes practice to get it to zero, one's faith is made of small decisions every day. Should I hold back that harsh word? Should I engage in another volunteer activity? A disciplined emailer shows moderation and self control, both key faith virtues.

Email forces action. Email teaches us that our work is not just about social networking and voting on whether or not we like someone's status (i.e. Facebook). Rather, it teaches us to make decisions just as our faith puts a demand on our everyday lives. If faith really matters, and I believe it does, it encourages us to populate our lives with traces of our beliefs.

Email is repetitive. An action which is taking place over and over again, like email, is actually good for your faith and here's why: it allows for mastery. Ask any good teacher why they are so darn good at their job and it's a simple answer- practice makes perfect. Just as "inbox zeroing" allows you to master email, so too our faith affords repetitive steps of progress. This could include daily prayer, going to Church or journaling.

How are you drawing a link between email and your faith?