Chocolate covered cherry
At the retreat, I have decided to go on a "Facebook Fast." I will use my time to meditate and pray, and not on Facebook. Just to note: I actually think Facebook gets a bad rap, but I understand. I love Facebook for what it was when I started using it, and what I still try to use it for -- community. I love "talking" with my sister, my cousins, my brother, the rest of my family, and my friends. I love reading about what they're doing and thinking, seeing photos of what's going on in their lives. Now, I know we tend to show only our positive side on Facebook. I have said that it's like those newsy Christmas letters we used to send with our Christmas cards -- full of the good things that have happened in our lives, not much about the bad, or the hard, or the sad. But I like the newsy Christmas letters, too, and I like Facebook for the same reasons. It's no substitute for real-life talking and friendship, but it's still community.
Anyway, I decided not to go on Facebook during this retreat. I made an exception that I would post my blog entries, but that's all. Every day, though, at least once if not more, I have gone on Facebook on my phone. It's truly a habit. I check my emails, then click on Facebook. Each time a memory has come up in my memory stream. I start looking at the memories, enjoying them, then realize, "Oops! I'm on Facebook!" and I close it.
It makes me laugh at myself and it reminds me of when I used to fast sometimes while going to college. I'd go for a full day not eating. At Calvin, in the bookstore checkout area, they usually had a display of single chocolate covered cherries. You could buy one at a time for a matter of cents. They were my favorite kind of chocolate covered cherries -- clear liquid inside, not that too sweet white stuff. I would often use the halls of buildings on the way to avoid the snow and cold as I walked to class. I would sometimes allow myself the treat of going through the bookstore checkout and buying one of those cherries.
Several times on days I was fasting, I'd buy a cherry, eat it with great enjoyment, and then remember, "Oops, I'm fasting!" Very much a creature of habit!
Anyway, I decided not to go on Facebook during this retreat. I made an exception that I would post my blog entries, but that's all. Every day, though, at least once if not more, I have gone on Facebook on my phone. It's truly a habit. I check my emails, then click on Facebook. Each time a memory has come up in my memory stream. I start looking at the memories, enjoying them, then realize, "Oops! I'm on Facebook!" and I close it.
It makes me laugh at myself and it reminds me of when I used to fast sometimes while going to college. I'd go for a full day not eating. At Calvin, in the bookstore checkout area, they usually had a display of single chocolate covered cherries. You could buy one at a time for a matter of cents. They were my favorite kind of chocolate covered cherries -- clear liquid inside, not that too sweet white stuff. I would often use the halls of buildings on the way to avoid the snow and cold as I walked to class. I would sometimes allow myself the treat of going through the bookstore checkout and buying one of those cherries.
Several times on days I was fasting, I'd buy a cherry, eat it with great enjoyment, and then remember, "Oops, I'm fasting!" Very much a creature of habit!