(an old art journal page about my terrible attention span. this is relevant.)
Soooo. Ahem, hrrrhrm. Here's my announcement. (I know that posting this on my blog & announcing it to the world will make this that much harder to slack off on.)
I'm giving up the internet during the day, while the kids are awake, for Lent.
Okay, so. . . maybe some people would laugh about this. Maybe you think "what's the big deal, I do that every day?" My friend Renae has given up the internet entirely for Lent before, and I tip my hat to her.
Listen, it's not entirely practical for me to give up the internet full time. I'm not even sure if you can be an active member of society anymore without email, right? Being online to stay in touch with my family, keep track of our calendar, and work on my fledging little etsy shop are all good and productive things that I don't think are necessary to remove from my life.
But bear with me. Is this a scenario that looks familiar to you?: "Hm, I wonder what the actress from Punky Brewster is up to these days? URGENT QUESTION!! TO IMDB, POST HASTE!! Well, while I'm on the laptop I might as well check facebook and see if that Anthropologie sweater is on sale and and and etc." Then it's 15 minutes later and David's toast is getting cold or the baby is crying or whatever. It's a cycle that repeats a lot during my days at home and I've known for a while that it's just not the best for me or the kids either.
I've been reading, hearing, and thinking a lot lately about Quiet. And not just in the auditory sense of like, sitting alone on a mountaintop. But also the, "am I able to tune out the internal distracting chatter to really be in touch with myself, and in prayer and communication with God?" kind of way. It's a question I'm hoping will be a lot clearer after the next 40 days. It's difficult to have internal quiet when you're rushing to fill every spare moment with new information. So that's my hope for Lent: eliminating the distractions, focusing on my family, and finding some Quiet.
