Day 2 February 19 – [F] No TV or screens today
RO: God reveals himself thru the language of Beauty. // We long for more because we are made for more … Lent strips us of our facades …and it reveals that the core of who we are is that we are made for God. // God satisfies the desires of our heart.
Deuteronomy 30: 15-20
Choose life, then,that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
Luke 9: 22-25
Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
This reflection was written on 2/20 as the activity for the day was fasting from computer and TV screens. I woodburned a crate I am in the middle of making while listening to a few radio programs. There were a few things I wanted to do on the computer but had to deny myself. As the night went on and I hadn’t succumbed to a screen I felt strengthened to continue to deny myself it – even though my usual habit is to sit down 1-1.5 hours before bed and just relax on the computer and with the TV. For 3 hours I woodburned and stayed in the present moment. There were a few times I wanted to do something on the computer*, but denying myself that instant desire with instant gratification really was a great challenge. Not that it was hard, but that it was different – to pause and just say “That is not important. If it is I will do it tomorrow.” And so this reflection waited to be completed in its due course.
It seems counter to the priest’s message in mass on 2/18 – which was “repent today; do not wait until tomorrow.” But it was actually in the same vein – “Be present so as to be present with God.” If we let ourselves remain distracted by our own wants and desires and always focus on ourselves we fail to make room for God. We need to remember to invite Him in. Slow down. Open up. Listen for how God is speaking to us. If we are mindful of what we are doing and don’t just seek the next distraction from our current one we give God an opportunity to let us hear Him.
*Things I wanted to do: (1) look up something for my sister’s wedding that we could possibly make ourselves instead of buying, (2) work on some logos I am trying to create for a contest, (3) make an image for a new Facebook cover (with Isaiah 40:31 on it); follow-up on this – On 2/20 I did upload a new image (haven’t done that in about 6 months) and it wasn’t even that one that I did end up making (made on 2/20) but instead a pic I took today… which reminds me I looped back to instant gratification because I just selected the new one instead of the one I had been planning on using (for the curious: the new one is a picture of a record with my dad-in-law’s name on it; yes, it is pretty sweet but I really planned on making my cover religious-themed for Lent). (4) Just sit like a lump on couch with computer on lap and DVR’ed show on in background (for the curious: I partially did this on 2/20… writing this while a couch lump, though proud of myself for not having the TV on in the background.)
Continue to Day 3
Give God Your Yes 