My Experience (So Far)
Practicing Rest: I want to grow
closer to the Lord so I'm attempting to fast all forms of media as much as I
can during Lent (except for stuff required by my work). I want
to rest my mind and create more space in my life for God.
Hello. My name is
Daniel Curran and I'm an info-addict. I'm always scanning the
horizon for new information by ingesting newspapers, websites, social media
feeds on my iPhone during the day and gleaning posts and clicking hyperlinks on
my laptop at night. I love to track social movements and like to keep up with
pop culture. So when I relax I track with a wide variety of websites and
watch a wide genre of movies and videos, …even some I'm not really very
interested in just to "keep up with what's going on out there".
My experience with resting my
mind by attempting to fast all forms of media (as much as I can) has been
surprising. It's been refreshing so far. It took a conscience
mental choice to do it. No newspaper at breakfast (I've caught myself
staring at partial-folded-headlines as I walk past it on my driveway). No
Twitter (I do wonder what's going on with all 350 "friends" I'm following,
but not that much). No Pandora online radio (I do miss music, so I
cheated yesterday and listened to the entire new Mumford & Sons CD
"Babel" that Margee bought me). No clicking video links people
send me (this has been freeing, like throwing away junk mail without opening
it, no guilt). And the hardest, no generating Facebook, Twitter, or
Instagram posts. I’m not even sending text messages with pictures
myself, …out of respect for not generating traffic for others, and thus
obligating myself to reply to their comments and retweets (I feel more
productive in my office and throughout my day. I'm aware of more
"undone" things I have not attended to. Mentally I'm focused
more on what I'm doing currently and more focused on the next thing and not on
something 3,000 miles away).
After two weeks, I don't
really miss my former binge-diet of media (I worry from time-to-time if I'm
"falling behind", but not that much). I'm feeling more engaged
and more "in-the-moment' with the people and the matters at hand.
I'm not fasting on Sundays, so I treated myself this past Sunday to
perusing Facebook and looked at a few news sites. After an hour I
felt lament because I realized I'd wasted an hour of my life that I would never
get back). I've discovered I can live without reading all the front
sections of the daily Contra Costa Times at breakfast, without skimming my
Twitter and Facebook feeds throughout the day, and without posting and skimming
Instagram. I'm realizing that I was ingesting all this random information
that didn't have any coherence or meaning to my life, …I think the randomness
and irrelevance of it all was affecting my brain. Plus, it was
sapping a significant amount of my discretionary time (and work-time) and it sucked
a certain amount of energy out of my brain.
I'm wrestling with the Lord
even now and asking Him how he wants me to live in a world gone berserk with
information. What is His wise strategy for engaging media after Easter? I
do need to keep up on things. I consider myself called to be a life-long
learner. My work does demand a certain level of social media engagement.
Plus, I really love the creative aspects of generating social media
content via status updates, tweets, and picture posts. A few things that
I think He's trying to get my attention with are: #1) Media is not
"bad" (being out of control is), #2) I can control the media I ingest
(I'm not a passive victim), #3) The Bible, great music, and literature are
forms of media (I've been ingesting a lot of "junk food" and even
some "toxins", …what I really need to consider is how the Lord wants
me to change my diet and dining habits).
Bottom line: The reason I elected to fast media in the first place
is because when I began Lent, I asked the Lord what he wanted me to give up for
Him so I could draw closer to his heart as I prepared for Easter, …immediately
He whispered "media in all forms as much as you can". I
recognized His whisper. I was humbled He spoke to me. I was sad
because I knew I had been over indulging. I was humbled because He
convicted me of how consumed I've become by media and how preoccupied I've
become with all these things that don't matter (to me).
Back to the Basics: Maybe that's why I love working in my garden in
the early mornings so much. Maybe that's why I'm enjoying my slow reading
through the book of Daniel. Maybe that's why I smile at myself now as I
strain to catch the tune of a car radio whizzing by or linger longer to
read the back of a magazine sticking out of our mailbox. Maybe that's why
I've been getting up earlier to enjoy just me and God working and walking in
the cool of the day in my front yard. For my Lord wants me to draw close
to Him as He whispers to me about how to prepare my heart for Easter, …far, far
away from all the media voices of the world.
-Daniel Curran | Worships at
9:00am Service | Martinez Resident
