Categories: uncategorized
Date: 05 February 2008 21:09:33
So, here we are, it's Lent again, and whereas in the past I've struggled to think what I could give up (most years I've either given up nothing, which was very easy indeed, or given up chocolate, which was much more difficult), I'm in no doubt this year. So, in just a few hours, I shall be giving up Facebook for Lent.
It's a no-brainer really. For all its usefulness for keeping in touch with people and the fun factor, I know I can all too easily waste hours sitting there seeing that nothing's happened, no one's online and nothing's changed since two minutes ago. So for the next seven weeks I'm going to aim to use those hours more productively.
Of course, my main aim for Lent will be using much of the non-Facebook time to spend with God, and to maybe read a book or two which could come in handy. However, I suspect that a side effect will be that I spend more time blogging stuff, whether it needs blogging or not.
So will I make it through? We shall see. I'm working on the western Christianity model of Lent, wherein the 40 days don't include Sundays, so I'll probably still spend a couple of hours on there each week - but at least that's a couple of hours per week, not per day, and it will be confined to a short space of time. Meanwhile, I suspect the biggest temptation is going to be checking my emails and seeing all those notifications that they send you - you know, "James sent you a message", "Laura invited you to an event", "Brian sneezed within three miles of you" and all that - and resisting the urge to go and investigate them straight away.
The thing is, just lately, it's felt a lot like God's doing some stuff with me, and that's been great. But it's also felt like I've been having trouble making time to actually spend with Him getting to grips with what He's doing and what I ought to do as a result. So hopefully that's all going to change.
Finally, rather than trying to explain all this at length on my Facebook page, I've just linked here - so if you're reading this for the first time, welcome to my blog. Put your feet up and make yourself at home. Please sign the guest book (i.e. click the number next to the question mark and leave a comment) or lurk to your heart's content. And maybe click the thing at the top that says, "powered by www.wibsite.com", and read some of the other stuff here. Or, just maybe, turn your computer off and go and do something else. That's kind of what I'm doing.