Lenten Turns: Towards Self, Toward God, Toward Others by Jesse Tyler<br/>

allgo-an-app-for-plus-size-people-V7FXIkFEpYg-unsplash.jpg — Toward Self, Toward God, Toward Others

Jesse Tyler

Day 1 of 3: Turned toward Self

He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a little while”—for there were many [people who were continually] coming and going, and they could not even find time to eat.

-Mark 6:31 (AMP)

How do you spend your time? Working, living—how much of that time is spent on your phone? I know you’ve heard this before. What I don’t want this devotional to be, and what you don’t need it to be, is another finger-wagging screed about ‘this generation’ and technological obsession. As a millennial, I am more concerned about what our reliance on social media has done to our spirits.

The research is out there. When we consume content via social media, our data is traded in and we become the product. It affects our self-esteem; it makes us generally less happy; and it consumes us as we consume it. I won’t trot out the research for you to review here. Instead, I encourage you to think about the time you spend on social media.

What kind of effect do you think it has on your self-image, your attitude? You may not feel that you can ever be as attractive as the promoted influencers from Instagram. You might end up being an asshole repeatedly as you continue to get drawn into political “debates.” Your day might be destroyed as you watch a beloved childhood mentor share the most abhorrent views.

What value does this bring to your soul?

In the passage from Mark, Christ and his disciples needed rest. People were constantly coming and going. Even for an extrovert, that has to be exhausting. Jesus and the disciples are going around doing good works—beautiful, hopeful works. And they still have to stop and take a breath. Too bad we are only called to be in grace; few of us are called to go around enacting miracles. We are called to live out grace.

Like Christ, we need to rest. How can you find that time for yourself, to truly rest, when the first thing you (like I often do) after getting home from work is to spend time scrolling, scrolling, endlessly scrolling through multiple feeds?

Take a short break. See how you feel. It’s not easy because most of us are addicted to social media. We are. You know yourself better than I do. Think about which one you need to give up the most. Can you take a break from whichever one you think may be doing more damage than good? Don’t do this if social media is the only way you can connect to a life-giving community: remember, it’s not all bad! Maybe you’re the only LGBTQI+ person you know in person and have found a strong community of queer kin online. Cherish that.

Find some time to reflect, for yourself, on a practice of self-care that can free you from a social media that seeks to turn you into a commodity and from corporations that do not care whether you are happy or sad as long as it means you are engaging.

Turn that mercy toward yourself.

Day 1 of 3: Turned toward Self

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