Lent wrapped up last Sunday, and since then, I've visited most (not all) of the websites I avoided. I've finished and reviewed The Prodigal God. With Lent behind me, and a return to "normal" life, I have a few thoughts:
Like many people who fast from something besides eating, or who give something up, I was surprised how little I missed what I was giving up. Putting Buzzfeed and similar websites aside made me really feel how shallow, how superficial they are - and so, on what shallow things I was spending my life. Sure, they're fun; who wouldn't want to peruse a list of sea salt & dark chocolate desserts, or read about why having a cat is better than a boyfriend?
But when Lent was up, I was reluctant to go back to Buzzfeed, and humor websites in general. The web sucks down attention, energy, and time and doesn't give it back. During Lent I finished a book on nuclear warfare, started one on injustice in America, and read three books by Marilynne Robinson. Maybe I would have read just as much, even if I weren't avoiding humor websites. Certainly, however, I wouldn't have devoted as much mental energy to those books. If the purpose of Lent is to retrain our mind on God, then certainly I learned more about His truth and beauty, and about how we have broken the world he gave us, by reading these books. Reading Housekeeping is an activity much closer to the divine life within us than reading about housecats.
During Lent I moved. I filed my taxes. I graded perhaps a hundred papers. With no humor websites to distract me, I felt more productive. I felt like I not only got more done, but I did it better, than I would have if I checked Buzzfeed after every third paper. We are made to work, and to rest, in cycles, and avoiding humor websites helped me do both, better.
I also noticed how much I enjoyed a regular time set aside to read a devotional book, something besides Scripture (though I read more Scripture than usual during Lent, and thoroughly enjoyed that as well.) While The Prodigal God was not as good as I hoped it would be, it was nonetheless worthwhile. It reminded me of God's spendthrift love for me, and urge me to build a healthy, working relationship with God.
Also, I think regularly, steadily making progress through a book about faith nourishes meditation in a way that other spiritual encounters may not. When I read a devotional online or in a magazine such as WORLD, what I learn may be just a little nugget of truth. Like a tray of hor d'oeuvres, these bite-size chunks of truth are good enough, but don't leave a chance for real appreciation. For real appreciation, you need a full meal, and reading a book, over a long period of time, gives me the chance for rumination and meditation that I would not have otherwise.
So where do we go from here?
I've noticed that even when I forbid myself from visiting humor websites, I can easily spend a great deal of time on the Web. I may consider other rules limiting my web usage, not meant to improve my spiritual life, just my life in general. For instance, I'm toying with a "No Web after 10.00 PM" rule or a "No Web in bed" rule (Yes, I do read The Atlantic at 10.30 before I go to bed. Yes, I am a bit geeky. Why do you ask?)
I've also thought that next year for Lent, I may "up the ante". I'd like to give up something more costly. Not sure yet.
This Easter, Christ impressed upon me what the Resurrection means: His triumph over death and sin in our lives. We tend to interpret this as a promise of physical resurrection and of sanctification, at the end of all things. But it's more than that. His Resurrection is for here and now; He is in us, with power, to undo the spell that sin casts over our lives. When I feel new after laying aside humor websites, when I am able to think and meditate again, I like to think I taste His Resurrection power.
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