Sugar, Netflix, and Consumerist Tendencies

Happy March! To my Midwest readers out there, spring IS coming. Stay strong in the brutal cold and mountains of snow. My apologies for not writing much lately, I haven’t had a lot of inspiration and time is going about as fast as I spend my living allowance these days (thanks KFC). Anyway, I’ll share just a few updates about life this side of the globe and then dive into some thoughts on numbing habits I’m in process of breaking.

1. School: We are just wrapping up the first term of the 2019 school year. My role has changed slightly. I am co-teaching English in grades 1-3, teaching Grade 7 English, starting up remedial classes in grades 4 and 5, and managing the school media centre. It’s been insanely busy, but I am loving everything I am learning and the people I get to work with (both kids and staff).

2. The Library: The library has been a huge project for our library committee over the last year. It has been fun to see it come together. We have about 1,000 books for learners and teachers. We also just purchased some carpets and chairs to help make our space cozy and welcoming. We have 10 working computers up and running everyday for students and staff to use. Kids have been learning how to take care of books and follow the library rules and procedures. We are all enjoying the new space. Please pray a volunteer in the community is found soon to take over as a librarian so we can start the training process and hand over responsibilities asap!

3. FRIENDS: Over my holiday coming up in a few weeks I have 3 beautiful humans coming to visit me and I am so very excited! Pray for our adventures and time together. SEE YOU SOON LAURA, ELIZABETH, AND SOPHIE!!

4. My Health: Emotional and mental health have been a little rocky the last month or so. I’m having a difficult time being fully present here when I am itching to be home in 7 months. Pray for continued strength from the Lord and praise God for friends and family here and in the states that continue to encourage and uplift me daily. Physically, I am enjoying training for a half marathon and feeling strong. I’ve had a little battle with food poisoning this week, but I came out victorious. Yeah, take that leafy greens!!

Thanks for all your encouragement and prayers over the last 20 months. You’re the best. But please don’t stop. I’ll need those prayers for the rest of my life. Thanks. :)

Now let’s get on with the good stuff-- the God stuff! I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about mind numbing activities lately and wanted share some of the things God has been teaching me. (Side note: Please reply to this post and tell me what you’ve been learning lately too!! I want to learn with you.)

Side side note: This post is written directly to people who believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and strive to live in a way that follows all that stuff written in red in the bible. I am specifically addressing Christ followers when I use the term "we." If you don't identify with this, I still hope you can read this post and get something useful from it. Just know there will definitely be points that you disagree with. No matter your point of view, I hope we can agree that we all benefit from less waste and more love!

Let's start with a little activity. Touch your nose if you have ever done the following: mindlessly scroll through Instagram or Facebook, partake in retail therapy, binge watch a show, or eat your feelings. Now push your nose up so you look like a little pig and giggle because laughing is important too.

I think most of us can agree that our world today is seeping with opportunities to numb and distract ourselves from reality. I think we should start calling smartphones time-sucking-distraction-devices because that just feels like a more appropriate name. On the flip side, we are in a time that is also bursting with opportunities to learn, create, and connect in deep ways (also thanks to the same technology I just called a time sucking distraction). The determining factor is us. How will we use the resources in front of us?

Over the last couple months, I’ve become increasingly aware of how I spend my limited hours in each day. I was able to fit most activities into three main categories: consumption, creation, and connection. Consumption I defined as activities where I intake and contribute little to nothing myself. These things are often mindless such as scrolling social media, watching a show, buying new things, I guess eating would even fit in this category. Creating is when you actually make something new like writing a song, drawing a picture, listening to an informative podcast, or cooking a meal. Lastly, connecting is when I am bonding with other and/or God. Connecting is based on relationships. Examples are reading scripture, writing a letter, visiting a neighbour, teaching classes.

As I sorted these different daily happenings, I realised that activities that fall under the consumption heading overwhelmingly reaped numbness, distraction, isolation, comparison, longing, lacking, and addiction. Yikes. Those don’t exactly sound like things I need more of in my life. It’s insightfully ironic that activities of consumption actually lead to emptiness. You go to the mall to shop for a new dress to make you feel pretty. You feel great for a hot second, but then the dress sits in your closet collecting dust and you are left still feeling frumpy and also out $20. Or you scroll Facebook after a busy day just to “breathe” but you miss opportunities for conversations with your family and substitute them for a parallel play of sorts as you sit together silently each being entertained by your own time sucking distraction device. The sad thing is that we have let ourselves believe that we actually need mindlessness. We’ve convinced ourselves that the things leaving us empty are somehow a necessary part of our healing. It’s an addiction. And a deadly one at that. We have believed the lie that we need to consume, when in reality we were made to create and connect.

Even so, self care is still vital. We need rest and relaxation. The issue is that we've accepted consumption as a cheap substitute. Even Jesus went away to pray and take care of himself. But he didn’t go buy a new robe at the temple or watch The Real Housewives of Jerusalem for hours to escape his pain (sorry for the bad jokes. They just felt right). When we try to numb ourselves to reality, reality will still be there to kick us in the face when what we are consuming is all consumed. And chances are it will hurt even more because you weren’t expecting it. Instead, Jesus offers us something way better. He offers to actually take our pain. To heal us. To help us grow. To prune us. To sanctify us. This is the very opposite of numbing. Likewise, it reaps the opposite fruit. It reaps authentic connection, gratitude, and the fruits of the Spirit. Lord knows we need more of those in this world!

So the choice is ours. It is so much easier to say yes to distraction, but let us remember it will only leave us empty. Instead choose self care activities that create and connect you to God, our world, and others. Spend time in scripture, go for a walk, bake some cookies, write a letter to a friend, listen to a sermon, heck even taking a nap can create rest and recharge in your life! All of these activities take action on our part, but they in turn lead to fullness and recharge rather than emptiness and retreat.

Here we are, a few days before the lent season. I can’t think of a better time to reflect on our life habits and ask God to reveal what he is asking us to add in or cut out. Lent is a season of reflection and preparation. It is a beautiful opportunity to build creation and connection into our daily lives and start to prune out the consuming habits that numb and distract us. I started by just observing my daily routines and noting how much time I spent consuming and numbing vs connecting and creating. Then I started to pray over this question, and I encourage you do the same going into lent:

What 1-2 things can I cut out or add in to give more creation and connection to my world?

As followers of Christ, we are described as set apart. This phrase is often used to make christians feel holier or better than non christians. It reeks of self-righteousness and uppity, judgmental tendencies in modern Christianity. Interestingly, being set apart actually has nothing to do with what WE do. It is something Christ did FOR us when He died on the cross. He has set us apart. We don’t set ourselves apart. It’s more of a look-at-those-weirdo-quirky-christian-people-over-there-let’s-get-closer-to-see-what-this-strangeness-is-all-about type set apart. We are, as Shane Claiborne calls it, to be the peculiar people of God. So don’t let the term set apart go to your head. It just means we are oddballs. Not counter-cultural oddballs but just constantly peculiar set part people of God, whether dominant culture agrees or not. Dominant culture says, “consume.” Jesus says, “Sell everything you have and give it to the poor.” Dominant culture says, “treat yourself” and “block out the troubles of the day.” Jesus says, “Cast your cares on me and bear one another’s burdens together.” Dominant culture says, “leave a legacy. Find success.” Jesus says, “deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me.” We get to choose. I choose Jesus culture.

So what can you do to become a bit more like Jesus and a bit more peculiar to your neighbours and friends this lent season? Maybe it’s putting your phone in airplane mode everyday when you get home from work. Maybe it’s disconnecting your TV and reading a book together as a family every night. Maybe it’s limiting your wardrobe to 10 pieces of clothing for the entire 40 days. Maybe it’s calling friends or family members every day at 7pm just to talk. Maybe it’s not spending any money for a day, or a week and donating what you normally spend to a organisation or person doing great work in your community. Get creative. Go connect. It will bring you freedom and fullness and also share the Love that has made you into such a set apart weirdo.

I’ve heard of a lot of people going on sugar-free diets these days. While I find that terrifying (and admirable), I think it’s a great metaphor for ridding ourselves of the lie of consumption and need for numbness. When people try adding sugary treats back into their diet after not eating it for several weeks or months, this crazy thing happens. They actually don’t like the way it tastes anymore. They even stop craving it. That’s because it’s an addition, a counterfeit of what we really long for. Once you cut it out, you realise it wasn’t even that good in the first place. I’m not sure I’ll ever get there with sugar, but I’m definitely ready to dump distraction and numbness rooted in consumption from my plate. Life is too short and God has too much goodness extended to us to stay there.

My challenge to you, to me, is to start with one thing. For lent this year, I am shelving my hard drive full of shows and movies. I’ve built habits of watching The Office when I come home from school, eat dinner, and go to bed. It’s a way to numb, and ultimately just a waste a time. Maybe shows are not a form of consumption for you. Maybe they bring true rest and relaxation. That’s great! Find something else to shake up in your life. In place of that time spent distracted, we can choose activities of creation and connection. I made a list to reference in case I forget. Below is a picture of that list from my journal. Hopefully it gives you some ideas as well, but get creative and add some of your own!

I hope lent is a refreshing season of refocusing and preparing for the scandalous Love story of Easter. I pray that as we dig up the lies and fill the cavities with Truth we find more connection and creation in our lives leaving us fuller, refocused, and free from distraction. Then we can start to wake up from our numbing slumber and get back to the life-giving work of loving and serving God and people.

When I’m tempted to fall into consuming patterns, I think about the quote, “The best thing to do with the best things in life is give them up.” If I’m choosing to binge watch a show because I feel lonely, I can instead use that time to tell others (and maybe remind myself too) how much they belong. When I am itching to buy some new clothes, I can go buy a gift for a friend instead or even extend radical generosity to a complete stranger. You’ll find the more love you send out the more alive you feel inside. The coolest part is there’s just no space left to mindlessly consume. You stop craving it.

I’m still praying us Christians would be known as people who love well. Make us more like You, God. Make us more like Love.

It’s all comes down to love. You are loved. I am loved. Love is hard. God is Love. Let’s go love everyone.

- Caitlin