Did you know that Instagram has more than 2 billion active users? That means that over a fourth of the world’s population use it. Most of those users check their accounts daily, with the average app time of 30-55 minutes per day. While this number changes per person, that means that the average person spends somewhere from 182-365 hours on Instagram per year. That’s a lot of time.
But then the question becomes how much time do we spend on the Bible? On Christ?
People are often guilty of falling into a pattern in life, cycling between the same few activities and not finding any reason for altering it. It is remarkably easy to do so as our lives are governed by schedules. From school to church, from our extracurriculars to our free time, we are often prompted to do the same thing by bells, promises or expectations. And there is nothing wrong with that.
Or is there?
While there is virtue in planning out your time so that things may progress in the smoothest, most efficient way, it becomes a problem when it begins to take over everything. Activities may be consumed by timetables, turning it from something enjoyable to just another task that has to be done within a certain time constraint. Helpful practices may come to be just another item to check off our daily lists. Good habits end up being just something that you do every once in a while.
This happens in all areas of our lives. From the mundane to the spiritual, we become so used to the way things are that we don’t stop to wonder how something could be. We stop seeing the wonder in the little things, lose our curiosity, and stop feeling joy on some occasions. Before we realize it, we are simply existing instead of living.
For this reason, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity that I was given, through the Senior Restoration Project assignment, to find a way to encourage people to step out of their established patterns in a small way. I began an Instagram page (@adifferent_lensp33) with the goal that I could introduce some more spiritually-inclined art into the feeds of those in our community, giving others the chance to stop their doom scrolling for a second to think about the One who gave us the time that we were using. I sought to show people that we can find God in all areas of our lives. That we can find him anywhere if we look hard enough.
In a way, my project ended up being a two-pronged approach. I set out mainly to help my audience, but it has also impacted me. I have often struggled with thinking of God throughout my day and not just on the clear-cut, pre-planned times. This project changed that. I started to think about him and the stories in the Bible more often as I worked to find inspiration for art pieces. I thought about the ways that I could connect the things that I have done in the past to the Lord. I created several post captions that expressed how each piece affected me. I even wrote emails with him in mind. With this one project, my time with God increased significantly and all I was doing was curating an Instagram account.
I know that my project is not going to reach everyone in our community or impact them in the way that I have been impacted. I just hope that those who love looking at art could enjoy my project to some degree. I hope that they are able to see what others in their community have thoughtfully created and take the time to think why they found it valuable to do so.
My project is still super new. As of the moment that I am writing this, it only has 28 followers and 6 posts of art pieces that have mostly been created by me. But I have hopes that this project can continue on even after my project deadline. I want to continue growing this through what is left of this school year, creating a team that can back me up and then later take control of the page. My hope is that this page can continue on even after I have left the school, serving as a way to encourage the NCA community for years to come.
So. Will you help me on my journey? I am always open to more creators for my page. Whether you just want to be an occasional creator or something more constant, I have a spot for you. Come find me or email me (csanda03@nca.edu.ni or adifferentlensp33@gmail.com), I’ll be waiting.
