I haven't posted in a long time again, I guess. Since graduation, I have reacquainted myself with the world of social media. I remembered I had a Twitter, I consistently check Facebook, I started using my Instagram... (even tried Pinterest but that didn't go well at all, I don't need more ideas in my head, I need less ideas and more time!) David Platt said one time that Christians used to think slavery was fine, and he wonders what future Christians will be appalled that we tolerate in our lives. I've been trying to figure out if it's social media, and I figure the best way to do that is waste a lot of time on social media. However, I still don't know. For me, social media is also a wonderful way to keep in contact with my dear friends and family far away.
When Ben and I were engaged and not sure how God was going to use his business and my nursing educations, he wrestled with "You want to go be a missionary, should I quit business school?" We really prayed a lot about being willing to go and do whatever on Earth God wanted us to do. Had I known that was going to involve living in a county with a total population of less than the (I thought small town) I grew up in, next to a lot of cows and a nice farmer named (no joke) Joe-Tom (we moved again last month)... I may have tried to be a little more specific with God. I don't even know what the population of Alpine is, it's not on any sign or the internet. I do know we have a one-room post office and cafe of sorts where you are served whatever they are cooking. No gas station or anything fancy like that. Sometimes people say oh, it's one of those blink-and-you'll-miss-it towns? But you could miss it with your eyes wide open. Anyway, I love it here, but I think I will not give up my media. There certainly are many, many pitfalls and shortcomings. Several of my friends here don't use it and I think that's great. And I'm trying to be more intentional. But I have just been struck by how much social media feeds into our narcissistic, individualist culture. It's almost like we are each creating a brand for ourselves, that has to be conceived, developed, and maintained. So much work! And what a dumb hobby, compared with other times in civilization... "I'm a painter... I'm a philosopher... I'm a writer..." Those things still happen now but I feel like our passions and talents are really diluted. "I go to work, but really I like to tweet about things that annoy me." I know this is a think because it happens to me. I used to sit and read or paint or journal for hours on end but now I really have quite a self-induced ADHD where I habitually text and whatnot on my phone! Since I started writing this post, I've answered one call, two texts, sent two others, checked my Instagram and been reminded about how much fun my cousins are having without me, and checked my Facebook (awww, no new notifications). Our brains were designed to lose themselves in work, experiencing flow is completely necessary to a healthy mental state. No wonder we get so stressed! There's no rest for the weary. When I am seeing patients, I do find that I don't have any trouble focusing on anything else, don't worry about that, it's just my entertainment and diversions get in the way of actual relaxation! I'm working on this, pray for me ;)
Anyway since Easter is the best blessing ever, I wanted to chronicle how I was blessed on Easter Sunday. I was kind of depressed, because I had been looking forward to some fun plans that all got canceled, and now I was sick with no plans other than hanging out with Ben. Which I love to do, but because of all the work we've had to do on the house we've been doing a lot of this for awhile. Anyway Easter and Valentine's Day are my two favorite holidays, because God is love and his love is manifest in Christ's death on the cross! We should not need anymore celebration than this, but to me it was sad to be just the two of us after church that day, and I had been praying for peace in my heart and direction from the Spirit. We decided to stop at Walmart to get the Hobbit, because neither of us had seen it yet, and then get Zaxby's to warm up with the other food we were planning to make. There's usually someone on the corner of the Walmart intersection, either selling something, advertising something, or panhandling, and I always ignore them, because I get really overwhelmed by all the different issues involved in panhandling. I want to help alleviate homelessness, but I don't think that's the way to do it. But this guy had a sign asking for work. I wasn't even sure if Ben saw him, but in the drive through he asked me what I was thinking about. I wanted him so badly to ask if we could pick the guy up, because I usually have ideas like that and he usually has a more realistic approach to things, so I just asked him what he was thinking about. He said the guy, and that he wanted to do something for him. We couldn't really think of anything off-hand, even though the house still has a lot of random things to be down on it. So we asked him, and he said he'd been in construction, painted, lots of things. I HATE PAINTING. And I'm bad at it. I've had two gallons of 2146-40 Dry Sage staring me in the face for a month. Their mere presence was stressing me out. The previous owners turned the garage into a living room, and it's huge! So we piled him into the truck and he talked the whole way to the house, where he did a wonderful job, and we dropped him off that night at his daughter's house (I wondered why he didn't live with her until we found out how many people were already in a tiny space). His story seemed pretty typical, nice guy in his 60's who had worked his whole life, lost his savings through some bad marriages, injured doing his job and trying to get on disability, been homeless since his last wife and her crack-addicted daughter kicked him out a few months ago. He said he struggled a lot with loneliness and seemed to enjoy talking to us and praying with us. He was funny too; after he finished he looked at me and said "Well, you just had your living room painted by a homeless guy" in a way that implied 'bet you weren't expecting that this morning.' And I really wasn't, which is why I love being filled with the Holy Spirit! God's mercies are new every morning, and he is waiting to turn our disappointment at life's inconsequential happenings into reminders that he is much bigger than that. As if the fact that God saved my wretched soul could really leave me room to be disappointed, he sent along a fellow who needed a job and some company to do something I'm too lazy too do... I certainly don't understand that, and I'm glad God is beyond my understanding! Now I need to go get more Kleenex and some wallpaper for the last side of the living room (:
