Feasting, fasting, and Facebook

“I’m working to find a middle ground – some fasting, some feasting.  At some points, gobbling up life with every bite; in other seasons, mastering the appetites and tempering the desires.  My work these days is to find that fine balance – allowing my senses to taste every bite of life without being driven by appetites, indiscriminate and ravenous.  Some days I get it right, and some days I don’t, but I do know that along the way, the process is healing me.”

SHAUNA NIEQUIST

As I’ve been making my way through Bread & Wine, a book by my new favorite author about isolation, community, and the significance of breaking bread together around the table, I’ve been thinking a lot about the two extremes mentioned above: feasting and fasting.  Feasting, referring to indulging, engaging, and fully immersing oneself in _______.  (Fill in the blank, however you may.)  And fasting, referring to stepping back, withdrawing, and taking time away from _______.  (Again, you name it.)

Both are good, valuable, and necessary in different seasons.  Since graduating from college, I’ve been trying to be intentional (yes, I’m aware of the stigma that goes along with this overused word…meh) about the way I spend my time – investing in things that are life-giving and truth-telling.

So, in the things that give, I feast.  And in the things that take away, I fast.

Then there are the tricky ones – the ones that have the potential to do both (although I would say that the vast majority of things fall into this category – anything we take to an extreme has the potential to backfire).  It’s difficult to balance the two, to know when to feast and when to fast under such circumstances.

For me, social media – specifically Facebook – has always fallen into this category.  I love people.  I love connecting with people, sharing with people, laughing with people, learning with people – people, people, people!  We were made to be in relationship, and community of any sort is a good thing.

However, Facebook seems to be taking more than it’s giving lately, signaling that it might be time for a fast.  In the next four-ish months, I’d like to spend my time being with people instead of comparing myself to people, playing, creating, and adventuring instead of watching other people play, create, and adventure, claiming truth about myself instead of looking for approval in little red notification flags, and staring at this view instead of my computer screen:

So, here’s to feasting, fasting, and learning how to properly balance the two!