I am amazed by how much inspiration, agitation, anticipation, exculpation, inculpation, participation and preoccupation I derive from Facebook. (If you don’t know what some of the “ations” mean – look them up – I did! Lol)
As you all know, I have been on a Facebook fast. The first week was absolutely brutal! I felt so disconnected – duh, I know, but I mean totally cut off. Our crazy spread out world becomes so much smaller, so much more manageable on FB. It brings everything into pinpoint magnification and clarity.
Usually, I don’t have to think very hard in order to find something to write about once a month. I mean, there’s just so much meat out there to chew on – (in your case, Taylor, hummus and veggies,) but I really struggled this month. No input, no output!
I also miss my social media community. Hope you guys miss me just as much, but what’s one person when you have 790 plus friends? Right? Lol – Well, don’t completely cut me lose, I’ll be back Easter Sunday!
On the other hand, the deprivation factor has done its job. Each time I can’t twitter, or tweet, or like, or share, or comment, it reminds me of what this time of the year is all about. Each time I see Brad smile over a post, laugh about somebody’s comment, aww, over somebody’s baby pic., my heart sinks, but for those of us who are Christians, it reminds us of the greatest sacrifice, God or man (depending on your beliefs) mankind has ever known. Whether you believe in the Resurrection or not, Jesus still died for YOU, for US. There can be no Easter without Good Friday.
For me, Lent has also been magnified, and while giving up FB is hardly like giving up one’s life, it is a symbolic gesture simply to remind myself; pretty much hourly of the last forty days of Christ’s life. It brings to mind and heart the ongoing and unimaginable suffering that continues to thrive in our world. It reminds me daily that we can’t and shouldn’t turn our backs on each other.
We got a new car recently – a Hyundai Sonata hybrid with the licence plate that reads, “BELOVING.” While we simply considered it a plate that spoke a message about ourselves, I have noticed that impatient drivers who would normally zoom around us in frustration, give us the Bronx cheer, or remind us we’re #1, are refraining. I think our plate is making a difference in the way others treat us. It is a reminder to be kind. Sometimes, we all need that.
In a week and a bit, my suffering will be over; I will be re-connected with people that I love and care about, and I am looking forward to being resurrected to my friends and acquaintances. In the meantime, I will have to console myself with March Madness; that’s right 48 hours of college basketball beginning noon Thursday and running through to midnight Sunday, (and that’s just the first weekend!)
I hope your Lenten journey has been insightful, introspective, significant and meaningful, and like myself you await the joy that is Eastern morning!