What’s your favorite deadly sin? Mine is gluttony. I get lots of practice with gluttony.

When I was on sabbatical several years ago, I started doing crafts. Knitting and crochet, beaded jewelry, making cards, watercolor and acrylic paint, and even making homemade beauty products. And as all crafters know, you need supplies. My day would consist of going to the “big three” craft stores:  JoAnn’s, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels. Each store has coupons where you can get 40% off one item, and since I wanted to save money, I only bought one item at each store with the coupon. The next day I would do it again, and the next day, and the next day… As Joshua Becker, of becomingminimalist.com says, “I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies.” I bought more craft supplies than I used.

And then, again in order to “save money,” I got on several lists of Kindle books on sale. I ended buying hundreds of Kindle books for $1.99 and $2.99. And read very few of them. At first I told myself I was creating my own library. If I wanted to read something in the future, I could choose one of the books I bought on sale. Problem is, I didn’t. Instead, I bought more books.

One of the books I bought on sale, that I actually did read, was The Year of Less:  How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store by Cait Flanders. Cait talks about her spending freeze, and how it affected her life. I thought about doing that, too. For a minute or two. Even though I didn’t do a spending freeze, I did get off the Kindle sale lists.

For Lent this year, I took the Facebook app off my phone. Even though I value aspects of Facebook, I was spending too much time on it. I left it on my computer, and still accessed it at times. But I spent much less time on it. After Lent was over, I left it off. Until a week ago when I got sucked back in. It drained time and energy from my life, and caused a huge amount of frustration.

It’s time for a fast.

One of my favorite podcasters, Brooke Snow, talked about quitting social media. She took the challenge author Cal Newport issued, and the difference was amazing. In one month, she wrote 3/4 of a book, started composing music again, sewed a quilt, and read six books in the 30 days of the challenge. At the end of the month, she decided to do it for another month, and then another and another.

The spiritual practice of fasting is going to help control my gluttony.

I don’t want my compulsions, whether for craft supplies, Kindle books, or Facebook, to control my life. I want time:  time for God, time for silence and rest, time to do the things God is calling me to do. I think it’s time to renew my Lenten practice of fasting from Facebook.