I'm Back! Well... Sort of

Is it indicative of the effectiveness of the media fast that it’s taken me 3 weeks to post about it?

In a word… yes.

If you are someone who watches my page or eagerly awaits my next status update, you’ve probably noticed that even though I’m ‘back’ I’m really not all that ‘back’. Going into it, I was certain that 28 days wasn’t going to be enough to break any old habits or start anything new but I was wrong. It hasn’t been a conscious decision to refrain from posting in most cases. I simply haven’t cared to take the time! Now, one thing that has crept back in is fb browsing… you know, that meaningless activity of scrolling through endless ‘news’ updates from ‘friends’. Gonna have to do something about that again.

But I’ve had a couple people ask me to share how the fast challenged me, so I’ve sat down to organize my thoughts and condense them into a manageable post. So here come the bullet points and choppy sentences! Again, I learned a lot about myself during this month and some of it wasn’t very pretty…

-          - I used social media to bolster my self-esteem.

Some time I need to write an entire series on self-esteem… I’m convinced it’s an over-used and misunderstood concept that flies in the face of biblical truth. However, for the sake of this post just understand it in the way it’s always understood. Facebook audiences can be incredibly easy to predict and even manipulate… If I wish to feel pretty I just need to pull out a new picture (probably an old one, since I don’t get new ones very often) and change my profile shot. Since it’s considered good friendship and practice to encourage one another about our looks I can practically guarantee that I’ll get several dozen ‘likes’ and even a couple of ‘comments’ to make me feel ‘pretty’. The same can be said for quippy one-liners to make me feel ‘funny’ or deep philosophical thoughts to make me feel ‘wise’.

-          - I depended on music to ‘set the mood’.

You know how hard it is to clean a house to complete silence? I’m sure I used to do it all the time but it must have been long ago. Now my normal routine is to choose my station according to what I ‘need’ in the moment… hip-hop if I’m unmotivated, praise if I’m either cheery or facing temptation, instrumental when I just want something in the background… Music influenced my emotions and thus influenced my results. Without it I had to control those things on my own, with nothing but God’s power to help me. (Yes, that was meant sarcastically!)

-          - I didn’t really ‘miss’ browsing… but was utterly bored without it.

Have you ever realized that you spend an exorbitant amount of time doing something that has little to no value but you have little to no idea how to spend it better? That was me during this fast. Deleting my social apps off my phone left me with nothing to do in the car, in my down time, or while I waited for the water to boil. In all honesty, I didn’t find a good alternative in those weeks. I just came to the conclusion that I need a hobby… Still working on that one.

-          - I missed sharing snippets of my life with friends…

…But I often found myself sharing those moments with God, literally talking to Him about the things that were happening in ways I might have talked to my so-not-present ‘friends’. I’m not saying that it’s bad to share life moments with friends and family… If it was really funny or important I would call up my husband, sister, mom, or friend and tell them!... but it’s also not bad to keep it to yourself. I’m under no obligation to put my life out there for all to see. That’s something I had forgotten when it seems like all the world is sharing everything on the Internet. There’s still something to be said for privacy, believe it or not.

- Being 'In-the-Know' isn't necessarily a virtue

In this age of information, being non-informed is almost looked down upon as a sin. It like not knowing what's going on in the world is synonymous with apathy... the big no-no of today's Christian talking points. But is that really true? I went through 4 weeks of not having a clue what has happening in Israel, Washington D.C., or anywhere else unless I was personally told by another human being. Was I being apathetic about the problems around me during that time? I've though about those questions some and have come to these conclusions. 

"Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered." Proverbs 21:13

"So the, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is a sin." James 4:17

It would seem that there are two major faults to be avoided... One is intentionally neglecting the knowledge of another person's (country's, people group's, etc...) need. The other is knowing about those needs and not responding to them. So as we fill our heads with the news of the day and feel good for being an 'informed citizen' we'd better stop and ask ourselves something. Is our knowledge puffing us up and getting in the way of our action? Perhaps we would be wise to focus on the news that will spur us into action instead of becoming paralyzed by the amount of need in the world and doing nothing.