Lent

So after a week of thinking about how to effectively use this blog as both a type of therapy for me and a source of information for those who, hopefully, read it I have figured out what I am going to do with it.

Lent starts in one week.  As a Catholic, Lent has always been a time of preparation that made me feel strangely bi-polar in a way.  On one hand, there were sacrifices made like giving up dessert for 40 days or not eating meat on Fridays or not watching TV.  On the other hand, these sacrifices allowed my relationship with God to grow deeper filling my life with more joy and happiness.  As a child, Lent seemed so easy, it is no TV or no sweets (hard at the time but easy in retrospect).  As I grew, I found it more difficult to decide what to abstain from.  I love chocolate, but I didn't really see how eating a brownie kept me from Christ. 

The last few years, Lent has not been so much about abstaining as it has been in partaking.  I have chosen to attend daily mass, go to confession, pray a daily rosary and actively do things I knew would bring me closer to God.  This year will be no different.  I have chosen to start this blog and I will write in it once a day throughout Lent. 

If that's enough to keep you interested in it and coming back daily for my message, that is great.  If you want to know how I came to this decision keep reading.

I am young enough that "modern" technology has been around for my entire life.  I remember when cell phones were for high powered executives or for emergency purposes only.  I remember only having 4 channels on the TV.  Because we lived in the middle of a corn field, cable wasn't readily available and satellite was still really expensive and not reliable.  I remember signing up for my first hotmail email account in sixth grade.  My older sister set it up for me and my password was flute (an instrument I had played since fourth grade).   I remember instant messenger, when it was really cool and all the teenagers were on it.  I remember my freshman year at college signing up for The Facebook as it was first called.  It required a university email address and was a bio page about where you currently lived and what you were studying.

At one point in time, all of these modern conveniences seemed like a step forward, progress, growth and a step in the right direction.  It hasn't taken too long to notice that that direction is right off a cliff without realizing where we are going because we are staring at our iPhones, constantly texting, liking a status on Facebook or in general ignoring the very real human being standing next to us.

Cell phones are now carried by anyone and everyone and have become a definition of our self worth, the newer, better, cooler the phone equates to a better, cooler human being holding it no matter how outrageous their monthly bill may be.  Television is now streamed to our cell phones and laptops and wii and xbox and recorded on our dvr because apparently the message in all of these shows is too important to miss.  Email has replaced real contact.  Instead of lengthy handwritten letters or cards, we send two sentence emails and expect people to check them and get right back to us.  Instant messenger has mostly been replaced by the ever popular text message and facebook/gmail chat, just another way to avoid real human interaction.  Facebook has become a narcissist's dreamland full of usually not so humorous or relevant re-posts with the only original material being how wonderful your life is or how much your life sucks posted to either make others jealous or solicit sympathy.

With so much time, energy and thought wasted on modern technology that was supposed to make our lives better, it is a wonder anything gets done at all.  So for Lent, I am giving it up.  I am giving up wasting time on Facebook, texting instead of calling, watching mind numbing, immoral television shows, and emailing. 

· I am going to stalk my family and friends through phone calls and letters instead of through facebook.

· I am going to make phone calls instead of avoiding real contact with a text message.

· I am going to spend my time playing with my babies, talking with my husband, reading, praying, and going to daily mass or any number of things that don't happen enough or at all because of time wasted in front of a television.

· I am going to hand write letters, there is nothing I have to say or need to hear that can't wait a few days on paper in a mailbox (and if there is something urgent, I will call)

I am also starting this blog.  It will be filled with simple pleasures of everyday life that I have learned to appreciate being a Farmer's wife.

God Bless You!

Hannah

The Farmer's Wife