40 (ish) Days without Facebook

I do not generally like to publicize what I am giving up for Lent, and I don't always give something up for Lent, but this year I decided to give up Facebook and since that I means I will be MIA on a site that many of you are used to seeing me on, I thought I'd provide some notice.

It is always challenging for me to decide if and what I am going to give up.  As a Christian, I place much of my own theological emphasis on the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Or, as I jokingly tell my friends, I'm a "New Testament Christian."  My favorite holiday has always been Easter, but I think it can mean so much more when I place focus on the Lenten Period and Good Friday.

My philosophy about the practice of giving something up for Lent is it:

1. Has to be something that affects me on a daily basis (or at least every few days).
2. Is something that I can realistically give up, depending on current circumstances (I decided that giving up a food would not be a good idea this year since I am in an active period of losing weight and could use all options).
3. Is not something that, by giving it up, benefits me. So for example, I personally would not give up things like cookies or chocolate, or sweets, only because I think that is essentially a diet, not a lenten ritual.  It's not about benefiting from eating more healthily, it's about suffering in some way to be closer to God.  Granted, some may say that giving up Facebook has the added benefit of making me more productive.  Today has already demonstrated that the time I am not on Facebook will not likely be added to my productive time, but rather to my unproductive time.

Facebook is not an ideal sacrifice, but I think it serves my three requirements well enough.  I enjoy the ability to be connected to friends and family and much of the news I read comes from Facebook, so I will definitely miss it.  I will not observe the Sabbath breaks, by my own personal preference.

So, long story short, for those of you who may wonder where I disappeared to, I will be back on Facebook on April 8th, and will continue to be on Twitter, Blogger, Pinterest (although that has already fizzled for me) and email throughout the lenten period.

In looking for something to add at the end of this post about Lent, and it's significance to me, I found this article that I appreciated, that included the following:

"The journey of Lent always leads up a hill to a cross. There is no other route. Lent is a time to test our willingness to walk boldly with Jesus; to give up distorted goals; to 'die' to old ways and reject new temptations; to steadfastly look beyond the cross, confident that God's love in Jesus Christ 'lives' in us, and through us, and takes hope into the future."