I was raised right. In the Baptist sense of that word, it means that I know about Easter and what the resurrection means for my soul. If my home church talked about the Lenten season leading up to Easter Sunday, I did not pay attention, which as a teacher I know might be the case. My family did not practice any discipline as it relates the forty days leading from Ash Wednesday to Jerusalem. In that case, I know we never talked about it. When I finally came into contact with the idea that a follower of Christ would forgo something of value in the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter, I had no structure for practicing the discipline and where I had encountered it folks simply gave up chocolate.

For the past two years, I have been thinking a great deal about my writing as a discipline—a practice—so I wondered if I might try something different this season of turning to Jerusalem. I am borrowing once again from my friend Art Remillard, but instead of the social media fast he does this time of year I will post something to this blog every day (actually also taken from Art and John Fea). Sometimes I may be driven to reflect on the actual season, but there are other things that interest me and I’ll pursue those as well. My hope is that by stepping away from social media I will have more time to devote to my craft. The hard part is that Facebook is where folks know to come read my blog posts. I have almost stopped Twitter anyway since no one ever responds to me there, but that might be another post. Anyway, I am posting today to let folks know that I will step away from Facebook, Twitter, and perhaps Instagram for the next six weeks so that I can figure out my writing practice and clear my head of the chatter that consumes social media (I am glad the rest of you out there will continue to fight the fight). If I figure out the subscribe features, you may be able to “follow” the website as I post. Since I don’t expect much traffic and that this practice is for me anyway, I will not be disappointed if few of you read the blog. But stay vigilant because I may stumble across something profound. [insert smiley face]

 

Updated March 1, 2017: added a link to John Fea’s website