March 12 - Lent, Day 28 - The Great Physician

Look for this new profile picture on my facebook page beginning next March 5.

What might have an unhealthy hold on me? Is it food, drink, or too much time on the Internet? What can I "fast" from this Lent? (in reference to God's desire to free us - as he did when the Hebrew children were enslaved in Egypt - from bondage)

My answer to question two is: no, maybe, and yes.

Food has never been an issue. If anything, I'm usually too busy to eat. Having to stop the creative process in order to feed myself - honestly? - I find it to be a big annoyance (well, there is the slight matter of those kettle-cooked potato chips that I could probably eat less of and be a lot healthier).

As for drink - while I did spend my late teens and early 20s immersed somewhat in the typical alcohol and drug culture of my day (60s), it was pretty short lived, as I was married and starting my family by the time I was twenty-three, and very conscientious about eating well and abstaining from alcohol, drugs, and anything that might be harmful to my unborn children. I went many, many years without touching a drop of alcohol. A few years ago, however, I discovered the wonderful world of Irish traditional music, and while playing in Irish pubs all over Boston, I also re-discovered my love of beer. Yes, I totally and unabashedly love beer and enjoy one or two at the end of almost every day. Sometimes I wonder if I'm an alcoholic - I've got the genes for it, Lord knows - and if loving a beer or two at the end of the day makes me an alcoholic - well, call me an alcoholic, and a happy one at that. But I did give up beer for Lent - no problem; really, and as I've already said, "If God doesn't know I love him after I give up beer for six weeks, there'll be no convincing the Guy." It turns out that no beer at the end of the day isn't such a big deal (but I look forward to my first cold and frosty on March 31).

As for the Internet - mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Yes, I am guilty of sitting and staring at my computer screen for hours on end. Instead of making my own photos and writing my own songs, I am looking at the photos and listening to the songs of others; accumulating volumes of worthless and trivial information, participating in conversations that add not a whit of edifying value to my existence. I do believe that the above photo will be the profile picture you see on my facebook page next year, if not sooner.

Not that it makes it okay, but I know I'm not alone in this. Friends have also confessed to being addicted to facebook - and these are rational, mature, adults. I've read (on the Internet, of course) that studies show that the Internet is more addictive than cigarettes. I believe it (I also wonder, often, if my increasingly lessened ability to move from point A to point B during the course of the day may be caused by too much time on the computer, a medium that overstimulates and invites our attention to flit from here to there around the screen rather than in a straight line).

Dear God, help me to break free from the things that keep me from focusing on my own life and pursuing my own talents.