Now, let's be honest - I am probably just as addicted to social media as anyone else. I probably browse Pinterest, check Facebook and Instagram just as much as the 18 year old sitting next to me. But over the last few months, my concerns have grown.
What, you may ask, are you concerned about? A couple of things.
First, that people don't know how to be relational and spend time in real conversations with anyone anymore. Or that we are with someone without really being WITH them...know what I am saying? Our friend, spouse, child...whoever - is sitting across from us, trying to chat about something and we are on our phone. How about we try to be more present?
My other concern is how many of these tools are all about us. My Facebook page is all about me, my Instagram is all about me. Me me me me me. I think we need to be cautious of where we take that.
My final concern - and possibly the biggest concern of them all is IMAGE. What do we post? Things that make us look good. Feel good. Give others the impression that we are amazing, do all these awesome things and conquer the world!! That we are perfect. Our kids are dressed perfectly, look like they behave perfectly and never have meltdowns. We look like we have nary a hair out of place and do it all in heels. Our spouse? "Well look how amazing they are!! They did X, Y and Z for me...they are perfect." Or - "Look what I accomplished yesterday! I cleaned the house, planted a garden, mowed the lawn, washed 10 loads of laundry, got a pedicure and just happened to solve world hunger in the meantime. Yay. Me. I am SO awesome." Also - "Look at this missions trip I went on and how I saved these people!" As though we are responsible for that. And trust me - I am probably guilty of that one.
I know. I am being negative. I apologize for that. But as someone who has been hurt many times by the things I have seen on social media, I may have been pushed too far.
So just know this: for every adorable picture I post of my kid, there is also one...maybe two...possibly THREE of her unhappy. Screaming. Sad. For every sweet family photo I post of us there is an equal number of photos I could post where we are not sweet. Where our sinful human nature takes over and we treat each other in ways I am not proud of. For every cute picture of Ruthie and I, know there are also ones that I could post that would show a myriad of not very proud mommy moments. And for the record - I don't save the people on the missions trips - Christ does that.
But I guess that is what grace is all about. Right? That's why Christ gave Himself up for us. For those moments when we would NOT want to post aspects of our lives to social media. For those moments we don't want to brag about how "awesome we are"...because we yelled at our kid, were not grace-filled towards our spouse, cut someone off in traffic or had a not nice thought about the person next to us. I do believe that we can use social media for His glory - as I think all things can be used for His glory. But we need to be careful. What are our motives?
I wish I could say I never have gotten mad at Ruth or Dan. That I treated them with utmost dignity and respect. That my behavior was always sweet, gentle, selfless and sacrificing towards them. But that would be a lie. I have hurt them both more times than I care to think about. And they don't deserve that. In those moments, I am thankful for His grace. For without it, I would be in huge trouble. And I am thankful for His teachable moments....in real life, social media and elsewhere.
In Christ,
Meg
