A Quiet Lent

And the Things That Shape Us

As a kid I would sometimes daydream about having a magic wand, so I could clean my bedroom in an instant with a simple wave of my hand. Even today, I still think it would be nice if I could take care of menial household tasks with a little abracadabra.

But then I also think about all the humans who lived before the dawn of electricity. Perhaps they, too, daydreamed about magical things, like a switch they could flip, to have a dark room light up in an instant — or a dial they could turn to have their homes automatically warm up or cool down.

In many ways, the homes we live in today would have been considered magical to those who lived prior to the past two centuries. We have machines that wash our clothes and our dishes. We have refrigeration and indoor plumbing.

To be sure, I have little desire to go back to pre-modern times when women had to spend all day preparing the family meal over an open fire. Even with all the conveniences of a modern-day kitchen, I hardly like cooking today. So, for the most part, I’m grateful for the ways that technology has made our lives easier.

But it’s also worth noting that these modern-day conveniences are mostly for individual usage. And for everything we have gained from technology, we have lost some things, too.

We have lost a different way of life where extended families stayed together across generations — where people didn’t have to figure out everything for themselves because they were naturally embedded in families and communities that were committed to helping one another.

We have lost a sense of rootedness to a place and connectedness to a people.

In the old world, teens didn’t turn to Snapchat to “connect” with friends because they were already hanging out together outside. New moms didn’t turn to TikTok for mothering advice because they had moms and aunts and grandmas around to help.

It’s little wonder why so many people today report feelings of loneliness and anxiety. God never meant for us to live in such autonomous and individualistic ways. God designed humanity to live as a member of a family — one that belongs to a clan, that belongs to a tribe, that belongs to a nation.