I have a confession: cheesy humor is my downfall. I'm always up for a good joke, story, or play on words as long as the content isn't crude but rather clean. Crude humor seems a bit unnecessary and can often lead to stumbling in sin, but I'll dedicate a post to that at some point later I'm sure. Anyway, while browsing the web on clean jokes, I read one that's more of a story that I hope is based on true events as it's so comical as well as cute and made me appreciate the innocence of childhood even more than I already do. It went a little something like this:
I had been teaching my three-year old daughter, Caitlin, the Lord's Prayer. For several evenings, at bedtime, she would repeat after me the lines from the prayer.
Finally, she decided to go solo. I listened with pride as she carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer:
"Lead us not into temptation," she prayed, "but deliver us from e-mail. Amen."
I think the thought of being 'delivered from email' is what makes this short story so humorous, and then there's also the essence of childhood that is captured so well here. Children tend to say what's on their minds, and oftentimes they don't understand fully what they're saying or may switch around a few words, substitute a phrase here and there, or even make up new concepts all together. We take this story and smile at it, but as is my tendency I began to analyze the concept introduced here. As I thought about what little Caitlin had just introduced, the concept of being taken over by email, I began to think that society could indeed use deliverance from email at times. I would add to this concept a bit though and include Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or any other form of technology. In a world focused on advancement and surrounded by social networking, it's easy to become consumed with it all. I think wisdom would say that moderation is key; technology can be used for good, but too much of almost anything can often have a negative outcome.
A friend of mine and I recently did a two week fast from all social networking sites, and it was one of the best decisions that we ever acted on. I'll elaborate more on these topics (fasting, social networking, etc.) and how they relate to college in coming posts, but until then, enjoy this funny and sweet story from three-year-old Caitlin and her interpretation of 'the Lord's Prayer'.
