I mean browsing is just like window shopping. If you think about it. (Thanks Heather.)
It takes up lots of free time. And when I say free time, it is actually time that I could be studying, writing letters, talking to my family, and maybe (just maybe) praying for peace.
Let's hope for less procrastination. Some money saved. I can hope.
Do you know what it is really about? Consumption.
See, I have been listening in my Constructive Theology II class. So much, so that I am having to write a sermon about it. I am developing a Potluck Theology. Prepare, share, and eat. Think about it, there are very few leftovers at a Potluck. And you rarely leave a Potluck over stuffed. Open table. Enough for all. But not too much.
It is really about consumption. I have enough. I don't need to wish for more. Look for more. Ponder more. Or buy more. It so easily ends in buying.
So, no more online browsing. No Etsy.com. No Old Navy.com. No Patagonia.com. No. More. .Com.
The other thing, I kinda realized how impersonal online shopping is. I don't have to talk to anyone. No one. Don't have to ask how anyone is. No small talk. No contact. Just me tapping away on my keys. Pulling the credit card out of the wallet. Forgetting about the hassle of waiting in lines.
If nothing else, I still spend my money. At least I will have to look someone in the eye when I say, "No I don't want to sign up for another credit card."
I hear the Creator is reflected in all creation. In people. In their smile. In their good work...of maybe just being. Just connecting. Giving contact.
I think I've read something about Imago Dei. The image of God found in humanity. Full of value, not because of their function. Beyond doing. Just being. Just connecting. Giving contact. To me.
No online shopping. Or browsing. I have to keep reminding myself of that second part.
Less consumption. More human contact. From dust, back to dust. That is how we are all the same.
Less material. More being in relationship. We are mortal. That is how we are all the same.
From dust, back to dust.
BEAT
3 comments:
what a great and thoughtful lenten discipline!
I always get to Ash Wednesday and all of a sudden am scrambling to figure out what my thing is going to be for the season. I can never make up my mind.
i love the relationality of how your discipline draws you back into the world. =) blessings on your journey!
yeah i am taking up the spiritual discipline of recycling and i think i might tell every piece of trash that i throw away or recycle, "you are not dust, and you will not return to dust"- a bit of reminder about what my consumption does to the earth from which i came.
I like it. A lot.
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