The Wilderness: Social Media Edition

My mom and dad would probably faint if they knew I'd legitimately given something up for lent.  I experience these parenting moments from time to time now, so I can relate.  When you've made the same request a thousand times, threatened consequence, yelled, bribed, all to no avail.... and then one day, out of nowhere, you see your kids doing exactly what you had asked, out of their own motivation.  Half of you wants to cry out of pure joy, the other part contemplates beating them for putting you through hell to get there.  In the end you walk away with a satisfied smile, faith restored that they MIGHT make it.

I went to a Catholic church every Sunday for 18 years, and EVERY. SINGLE. holy day of obligation that existed, it was just the way it went.  Once ya' get in that vein of repetition, its hard to remember to think about what you're actually doing.  We were told to give something up, so we did, and promptly 3 days later we'd figure out ways to start cheating, sneaking, and the game began for the next 37 days.... Why does forbidden fruit always taste so good?

If I'm being honest, I never really cared enough to understand the point of lent, but I stumbled across a definition this past Fat Tuesday that struck a chord with me.

"Lent.  Its the preparing the heart for Easter.  Like going with Jesus into the wilderness for forty day, that we might come face to ugly face with our enemy.  Our sacrificing that we might become more like Christ in His sacrifice."

I'm no saint, so the idea of giving up food again, after just finishing the Daniel Fast for 3 weeks in January, was not sounding super appealing.  However, one of the other points that stuck out to me in this blog I was reading was the following:

"One needs to be dispossessed, by the possessions that posses, before one can be possessed by God."

Facebook was the first thing that popped into my mind, so I decided to go with it.  Three days in this time, was way different than last time.  I'm not in withdrawals.  Not looking to score a hit.  I'm feeling free and loving it!  Sure I wonder what's going on, but I'm realizing when I spend so much time reading everyone else's words I never leave enough time to write my own.  Three says in, and it didn't take long for me me to come 'face to ugly face' with enemy.  Comparison.  How could I write in my blog when I'm so busy reading everyone else's and their words seem cooler, their topics seem more relevant, their experiences funnier, etc...  Which probably explains why I only write maybe 30-40 blogs a year.... I'm too busy reading everyone else's!

However, unplugging from one outlet has freed me up to focus on the one I truly enjoy.  I'm looking forward to seeing what other fun revelations I discover here in my 'wilderness', looking forward with great anticipation to an incredible Easter!