Lent, and an Irony

If you are ever in contact with me in any other way on the web, like email or Facebook, you probably know by now that I've decided to give up the Internet for Lent. For those of you who only follow my blog, you may wonder what difference it will make, since I post so rarely anyways. It's a valid point. I keep trying to be better about posting, but I mostly find I have nothing to say.

The irony of giving up the internet for Lent is that it's providing me with lots of blog fodder. The church fathers had the foresight to allow for Sundays (Feast Days) off from Lenten disciplines, which is fortunate for me on a lot of levels: I can keep my emails and blogrolls manageable, and I can write down the things I need to check out online so that when Sunday rolls around, I'm not only celebrating Christ's resurrection (which is the point of the Feast Day - how can you fast when the Bridegroom is with you?), I'm also able to get my various questions answered that I have been accumulating throughout the week.

Lent started Wednesday. It's Sunday, and I've had some pretty major withdrawal, but in a good way. We've put the computer in the loft, so it's less accessible in general and doesn't draw my attention. I still wonder every day what's in my inbox, and whether my secret swap partner on Ravelry has emailed me to tell me that I'm getting a package in the mail this week, but I also have the "time" to play with the Doodle more attentively and do some stuff around the house that I would normally put off. I've also rediscovered Henri Nouwen this week, which is excellent timing - he's all about solitude and silence as means to build community and to serve, and between the internet being gone and me still being without work, I've got lots of solitude and silence these days.

I'm hoping I'll post here every Sunday between now and April 1, sometimes with pictures (I'm getting loads more knitting done too!), but with some kind of reflection on the prior week and what my web silence has been teaching me. It's an odd way to observe a Holy Lent, since traditionally it's considered tacky at best to tell people what you're giving up, but this is an odd season in my life, and this is a way for me to document it. Narcissistic? Possibly. Cathartic? Probably. But growth is not achieved in isolation, no matter how self-aware you may become there. Blogging is a way to connect to a community, and community is absolutely imperative for growth. So. Let's dive into the stillness of Lent together.