Hello Again, My Darlings!
It's that time once again-- the banners in liturgical churches everywhere are purple, my little men still have smudges of ash on their foreheads and mama's turning inward. The Lenten season is upon us, and for the first time in over eight years, I'm not giving up facebook or a message board. In 2013, facebook has gone from being simply an arena for swapping cute kid pics with my friends and family to being my primary source of communication period. My email inbox once held all the details of my daily life-- now it holds printable coupons, weekly school newsletters and bills, if that. Facebook is where my family schedules baby showers, people announce engagements and my doula clients seem most comfortable contacting me. (Oh yeah-- also, I'm a doula now! More about that later.) Clearly, while I can lessen the number of funny pictures I "share," facebook needs to stick around this year.
When I announced that I wasn't giving up social media for Lent this year, I received many other ideas (ironically, from my facebook friends) about alternative avenues for growth this year. Several people suggested bacon. Sure, I could live without it for forty days, but when you've already given up over 30 food options due to food allergies, why give up any more? Besides, I'd probably cry a little (or a lot).
Others suggested I give up T.V. Honestly, I don't even watch television very much. Oh, it's not that I have some great moral aversion to it or anything (not that there isn't a TON of garbage out there), but here's the deal: we have no cable. Do you know what that means in this digital age? It means we have no channels, period. Most importantly, it means that I have no Food Network, Discovery Channel or Hallmark. Clearly, without cooking competitions, science-based reality shows or sappy girl movies, I have no reason to ever turn my T.V. on. Besides, ADHD-girl over here doesn't really like sitting still and following a plot, anyway ...
Some truly sick people suggested that I give up ... coffee. Come on, people-- wasn't bacon bad enough? Do you have to endanger the lives of innocent children? Clearly, no one thought that through. I'm just not even going to discuss how completely WRONG that is, as I'm not certain I could stop once I got going.
I thought and thought thought some more, completely void of inspiration, when suddenly, it happened. I received my third call in one day from a survey company, just aching to know my thoughts on a matter so pressing, they had called me at 8:52 p.m. Ladies and gentlemen, when telemarketers call my home at any time, I am annoyed. When they call repeatedly, I am perturbed. When they call after my children are in bed, well, let's just say "Cathy Christian" goes out the window. I have tried "do not call lists," I have been polite, I have even put my husband on the phone-- NOTHING WORKS! Due to this reality, my reaction to these calls, depending on the kind of day I've had, has ranged in the past from messing with their heads (shouting random vegetables, speaking in other languages or asking them if they know where my balloon went), to going parental on them ("Do you realize what time it is? Do you really think this is an appropriate time to call my home?") to turning on "I Love Lucy" and blasting Ricky singing "Babalu" until they hang up. My time, I decided, was far too valuable for such nonsense. Or was it?
I have friends who never seem to get these calls, yet I do. People with clip boards and a petition pursue me as though my signature will bring about change right then and there in the Whole Foods parking lot. The garage door man at Costco is convinced that even though I have no garage, I am an ideal person to chat with. Avoidance clearly isn't working, blowing people off or freaking out at them is rude (and frankly, my mother taught me better) and most importantly, what is so urgent in my life that I can't give another human being my time? What if they never dreamed they'd be doing survey calls, but they're desperate for work? Would it kill me to listen to them for two minutes, in stead of making them feel like a waste of space? What if the sample lady handing out chunks of granola bars is recently widowed and lonely? As a (mostly) stay-at-home mom who fears isolation like the plague, I should understand that. And what if "Clipboard Cliff" has something to teach me that has nothing to do with ending the slaughter of banana slugs? If I don't give up some of my precious time, I'll never know.
So there you have it, I'm giving up my right to blow off solicitors of all kinds. I'm also going to have to plan more cushion time into my day, which, frankly, is not a bad thing. If I'm running the risk of being late for everything (and I generally am), it would seem that planning buffers in my day will only make my life more peaceful, not less. This is what I keep telling myself, as I desperately want to chicken out right now. I will probably screw this up more than once, and then I'll tell you about it, and then you'll know yet another reason why God uses messy, broken people ... but this still sounds hard. Harder than bacon. Possibly harder than facebook. This is a whole lot of patience, humility and planning, all in one Lenten season. Hoooooo dowgiez, this could get interesting!
It's Ash Wednesday. I acknowledged today that I am a fraile, flawed human being, in desperate need of a Savior. I have hope in my Risen Lord as I walk through the season leading up to His death, burial and resurrection. Will I take the time to invest in others, that they too might find Him, or will time get away from me? Stay tuned ...
In Lenten Love and Friendship,
Amy
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