Facebook= face value≠ heart book
Ever wondered the significance of the name “Facebook”?
Ok, maybe it’s just me, but I’m going to go there, I tend to be a deep thinker
sometimes, actually more of an intentional thinker. When I’m presented with a situation
that is puzzling or a problem I’m facing, rarely do I sit and mope about my
state of life. My mind is thinking about solutions and possibilities. This
proactive nature is good in most occasions but I also know it can be bad in
situations that call for a reflective, do-not-do anything-yet moment. Hey,
everyone has a hang-up and this one happens to both good and bad.
As I was contemplating my relationship with Facebook
(the account) and Facebook friends, I was wondering if all of this stuff that
was in my face all day(pun intended) was really building me up or tearing me
down. Sure, it’s wonderful to catch up with friends, see how their lives have
blossomed, how they have transformed into happy looking people…or is it?
Because truth be told, no one ever puts their bad side on Facebook, like the
bad picture (unless accidentally tagged by a nemesis). We all put our best
faces forward. We take pictures of ourselves that know look good and plug them
in for the world to see. We take pictures when we vacation or in places that
resemble a vacation, some of us it’s a posh place that we will only visit once
in our lifetime. But it becomes like a trademark, and people oohh and ahhh over
our good fortune, happy life, the fun and all those impeccably dressed and
beautiful people we hang out with.
We spend hours reading 2- liner wisdom of our
friends and even more perusing through their pictures. This time that is
supposedly spent “catching up” with our friends lives can morph into something
deeper and ugly. We start to wonder how that classmate who partied all night in
college is now a lawyer with a seemingly wonderful life. So and so, got married
to a hot to-die-for man..How, in the world? Oh would you look at those
beautiful kids, house, lawn, toned body. How did those people pass us on the
social ladder? Suddenly it’s a comparison game between our “friends” and us.
Deep down, further than face value, we want to know that we matter and that our
lives have become or becoming something great. As much as we may be happy for our
friends or Facebook family there are those who are ’not as great as we’ are yet
they seem to be doing so much better, and that eats at our insecurities, worse
yet, creates a whole layer of insecurity. This layer feeds of the face value of
what we see in their posts, pictures, etc. As other people build more of their “great”
life on Facebook, it can begin to eat at our esteem. When we are doing well, of course it’s all
good, even better if we seem like we are doing slightly better. It’s human
nature.
What Facebook does not show is some of the most
important part of our beings, the heart. That is why it was not named
heartbook. It does not show the struggle, the pain. It shows the night you were
so well dressed in a group of people at a posh place, but it does not show how
low you felt that night, surrounded by people yet alone and scared. It does not
show our everyday struggle with a marriage, life, school, mortgage,
unemployment and even employment. Some of us have jobs that we hate, so we
escape to Facebook to find some happiness or to pass time at work. Some of us
have empty homes, so after a long day at work, we sit on the couch and enjoy the
company of Facebook. Some of us have such insecurities that we spend a great
deal of time alone in the house taking Facebook appropriate pictures-by ourselves-to
prove to the world that we are alright, deceiving ourselves-momentarily.
Facebook is just that; take it for its face value, a
place to connect with those whom we otherwise wouldn’t. Don’t dwell on it or
even make it a habit. Use it for what it is, not any more. Heart to heart connections occur with people
in our lives, when we strive to make community with real people, not those whom
only faces are familiar to us. We need to get more friends to connect to our “heartbook”.
At the deepest level of it all, our heartbook is
governed by God. Who gives us grace amidst all the things this life throws at
us. Most importantly, he gives us unconditional love. He knows what is in our
heart even before we post it or even acknowledge it. He knows when we are struggling
in sin, when we are not at our best, tempted and even what our hearts strive
for. We are more loved now that we can ever imagine, all we need to do is
accept this love.
Facebook is just that, a social connection. Let’s
not lose sight of the important things in life. We spend more time on Facebook
than we spend praying, volunteering or attending church, it’s a shame for me as
a Christian to struggle with reading the Bible yet I peruse Facebook daily. Facebook
takes not effort, just an internet connection but it creates a false sense of
connection and takes away from truly taking the time to connect outside of
technology. If you need to realign your priorities like me, get off Facebook.
Take that time and make the most important connection of your life. It’s not Facebook.
You can live without that, but you cannot live without a heart connection to and
with God and with God’s people. So I’m taking a few weeks to reflect on my
relationship with God and people by deactivating my account. Maybe I will call
more people and invite more people over. I hope to spend more time reading the
Bible and seeking ways to connect at my church.
Even good things when not properly managed can be
detrimental and the very beginning of our destruction. So I’m beginning a
heartbook with God. C. Lewis, one of my favorite authors said: “I pray because I can't help myself. I pray
because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time-
waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God- it changes me.” I want God to
change me.
When I’m standing in line somewhere getting impatient, just as I
usually reach for my phone to pass time on Facebook, I want to take back such
moments and redirect them to connecting to God. I want to be able to meditate
and think about things of God, to pray for grace to face the next thing that I need
to accomplish. Because the proactive person in me is also impatient and that
causes me say or do things I regret. If I spent my time waiting in line asking
for grace, I might meet my neighbor, be kind to the check-out person and maybe
even connect with someone beyond face value. See, intentional. I thank God for that. I want to be so close to
him that I can receive the wisdom and discernment that is necessary for the
times that we are living in. I do not want to get caught up in things, fads, ideologies,
political reasonings. I know that if I spend time on Facebook, I am bombarded
with all of the happenings, causes and injustices prevalent in this world that
leave me with more questions than I have answers. I’m plugging in my heart to
God because ultimately, I want my faith to direct my responses.
As C.S Lewis also
said in describing the priority of prayer, “The moment you wake up each
morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals.
And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to
that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger,
stronger, quieter life come flowing in.”
No comments:
Post a Comment