By MAD21
The most-read post on our site for March 2010 was a guest post written by Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday) called, "See the Lite." In this post, Michelle talks about how she gave up social media for Lent. In the beginning it seemed it would be something very difficult to give up, but in doing so, she rediscovered peace, perspective, and valuable time her family.
I had expectations all right...they just didn't turn out as I expected.
When my pastor first suggested I give up social media for Lent, I balked. "I can't do that," I thought to myself, sitting across from him in the cafe. "It's too risky. There's too much at stake. I can't sacrifice everything I've worked so hard to gain."
I feared the loss. Loss of control, primarily. Fear that readership would plummet, that my itsy-bitsy platform would crumble. But also fear of a deeper loss -- loss of self.
You see, there's the part about the numbers and the platform-building. That’s important, for sure. But beyond that, there's my desire for affirmation. What do more comments, more readers and followers mean? That people like me. People think I'm important. People think I matter. I. I. I. Me. Me. Me.
Where's God in the I? Where's the God in the me? That's right. He's missing. Not there. Replaced.
Turns out, I had begun to define myself externally. I'd turned away from God -- from conveying his message and his voice in my writing -- and turned inward, towards myself.
Be sure to go and read the rest of Michelle's awesome post. Even though Lent is over for this year, perhaps you have something in your life you need to give up for awhile to regain a better sense of perspective. I think we all need to take some time every now and then to make sure we are focused on the right things.
Elizabeth took a break this month from the carnival in observance of Holy Week.
But you can still follow the link to see what people posted for February.
Be sure to go and visit Elizabeth Esther's blog carnival where bloggers gather on the first Saturday of each month to share their latest and greatest blog posts.