I love social media. I really do. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people via Twitter and Facebook. In fact 2 of my best friends in the world I met through Twitter. I wouldn’t be Co-Pastor of the church in which I serve right now if it wasn’t for Twitter. I relish the connections I’ve made, the long lost friends I’m now in touch with because of technology…I love the glimpses I get into peoples personal lives…I love being able to share tidbits of beauty God shares with me throughout the day.
All of that being said, I still struggle with Social Media.
There are the usual things that I’ve heard many folks complain about. Petty complaints, self congratulation…the overall fakeness of people trying to put only their best face on for the world to see so that their lives seem so perfect…and yes, I know I have been, and probably will be guilty of this myself.
This of course isn’t just true of social media, it is true of life in general.
All of these things though, I don’t think are my biggest struggle.
My biggest struggle as I scroll through my stream on a daily basis is that there just seems to no longer be a sense of sacredness. Everything in our lives is up for public consumption. Certain situations and life experiences used to be ‘just for us’…Whether it be an intimate conversation/coffee with a friend…the baptism of our kids…a sound bite from a sermon that we feel we have to share right then…
What happened to just living in the moment…enjoying the moment…just for what it is? God’s grace shown to us…poured out on us…for us to enjoy. I suppose part of joy is wanting to share it with the world…Joy overflows…it’s supposed to. But as I view much of social media…I see no reverence for those things and those moments.
There are times in life where we are to be in awe of the Holy. There are times in life where we should be dropped to our knees and left speechless by God’s graces and mercy shown towards us in our lives. I don’t know that having the cell phone/tablet/lap top at our finger tips ready to record every instance of beauty illustrates this truth.
Beauty needs to be shared. No doubt. Part of human nature is wanting to share the beauty that we encounter. I think that is part of being created in the image of God. That is a part of us that is like God.
Sometimes though, I think beauty should knock you down and simply cause you to stare. Sometimes something is so beautiful that we aren’t able to find the words for it. Too often though, what I see, and what I do…is miss the beauty because I’m too busy trying to describe it. I lose part of the joy because I’m too busy trying to show others what I’m seeing…And the kicker is…often, the beauty get’s lost in translation.
Or maybe even worse, we grow numb…we place all things on the same level…there is no more sacred/non-sacred…there is no more extraordinary/ordinary. We lose our since of awe…our since of the holy.
Losing our awe of the holy is a dangerous thing…
Then again…maybe I’m wrong about all of this…
Maybe there is a sense/glimpse of the sacred and holy in all things. Maybe that is one of the benefits of social media…being able to show that…to point people to the beauty we are experiencing. To help people find that glimpse of beauty that they otherwise may not find…
Maybe there is a balance there that we have to find.
That is my battle…
What say you?