Source: Uploaded by user via Kate on Pinterest
Yes... I am one of those people. However, before you begin to judge me I have to make some things VERY clear.
- I am not Catholic. Therefore, I do not have any religious obligation to give anything up for Lent. I simply choose to do it, as a quest for personal betterment. Anyway, I think it's better when we do stuff for God when it's not done out of a sense of obligation, but rather, when it is done as a conscious decision and desire to become closer to Him. Because I participate in Lent as a strict personal choice, I do not judge anyone else who does or does not choose to participate. If you are Catholic... cool. If you are not Catholic... cool. I consider myself to be non-denominationally Protestant. I believe the Bible. I believe Christ died for my sins. I believe that I sin daily, and I need to work to better myself and share Christ's love with those around me. Everything else, in my opinion (all of the ceremonial requirements, personal beliefs/interpretations, etc.), is just background noise that gets in the way of what Christianity is really all about: "To know Christ and to make Him known."
- Facebook, as sad as it may be, is, in fact, a vice of mine. I can spend a positively RIDICULOUS amount of time on Facebook if I do not monitor myself. Sometimes I log-on with the intentions of checking it quickly for 10 minutes, and the next thing I know, I look up at the clock and two hours have passed. YIKES! So, in other words, I do not give up Facebook because "everyone else is doing it" or because it is easy. In fact, I do it for the exact opposite reasons: it is NOT easy for me, and I am trying to care LESS what others are doing because I spend too much time caring about that when I am on Facebook, and I SHOULD be spending that time actually doing something with MY life.
- I gave up Facebook because I wanted to spend the time I normally spend on Facebook doing more productive things, such as reading my Bible, cleaning my house, keeping up with grading/lesson planning, BLOGGING (and Tweeting) on a semi-regular basis (more than once a month, and ideally, more than once a week), AND preparing for a baby. My husband and I are expecting our first child around June 21st of this year, and we have A LOT of ducks to get in a row before we are ready for Baby Clark. I have not hit my so-called "nesting" phase yet, where I begin cleaning like a mad woman, but being a teacher, I need to "nest" now while I can because May will be here before I know it, and then, I may not have time to "nest" because of the craziness that comes with the end of the school year. Also, I will probably be huge in May, and I'd rather not actually resemble a waddling penguin while doing said "nesting."
- I gave up Facebook for Lent last year, and it felt good to not care for 40+ days what was going on in everybody else's world. It felt good to not get angry after reading stupid people's stupid status updates and/or drama and/or political slander. It felt good to not stumble onto students' Facebook pages and get depressed by the fact that their parents don't realize the junk they are posting/liking and get even more depressed when I realize their parents are also on Facebook, are "friends" with their child, and STILL do not realize or care about the junk they are posting/liking. It felt good to come home and have to find something else to do for a change (usually something more productive). And... I GOT MORE STUFF DONE! So, I'm hoping that this year is a repeat of last year. I can wash all that voyeuristic ickiness away and use my time in a way that makes me feel better about life.
Having said all of that. I hope it has become clearer as to why I have chosen to give up Facebook for Lent. Hopefully this sacrifice will result in more blogging over the next 40 days or so. So, if you still want to make fun of me, go right ahead, but just remember... I was never doing this for you anyway.
Yes, I know Lent is already here, but I could not resist the urge to use this somewhere on this post.
Source: Uploaded by user via Kate on Pinterest
And, also, this one.
