Like, Share, Pin, Blog, Follow and LOVE

Most of my posts are about the things our family does.  Since I am exhausted from the past two weeks of solid "doing" this week I have tried to do nothing and so far I have been pretty successful.  But a girl's still gotta write, right?  So I'd like to share what I've thought about this week instead.

My turn to make snack for the preschoolers is next week. Halloween week.  If you know me, you know that I am not content to just settle on graham crackers and banana slices.  Since I am related to a certain lady named Stephanie, I always feel the need to step it up a notch.  This is the lady who, for my lingerie shower,  had a basket of "pieces" for every holiday of our first year as a married couple.  And that does not even scratch the surface of how creative, imaginative, and cute this lady is.  So naturally I began to think about Halloween snacks but I want it to be healthy and cute but not tacky or scary.  I couldn't think of anything.  So I did  it..... My little fingers went to my computer and I typed one word into my Google search.  It starts with a P and rhymes with dentist (kind of).  I made my first board and pinned my first pin.  The good news is, I found a cute little snack for the kiddos.  The bad news...I spent nearly the entirety of my afternoon on this wonderful time waster of a website.  I found some boots I want, I found a ton of kitchen organization ideas, and closet space enhancers, and so much more.  This is heaven for the Type A personality because it gives order and organization to your every idea; heaven for the Type B personality because of well, the same reasons.  Genius, brilliant, wonderful.  But then again, what did I actually DO yesterday???? Between my Facebook account, my email (3 different addresses), my phone, my new Pinterest account, and this, my beloved blog- I have to be honest, I feel like I get too much screen time.  I limit it for my son but why do I not seem to care that I get more screen time than anyone?  One part of me says, "It helps you run the house...It keeps you in relationship with your friends...It builds common ground between folks with whom you may never find any...Its a way to see sweet babies who are born and family that I am much too far away from".  All of this is true and do not fear, I do not plan to de-activate any accounts or cease to write this blog.
The other part hit me this morning as I read the Bible and I know this is the voice that should be heard above all other voices.

It came in sort of a round-a-bout way so if I loose you at first, just stick with me.  I read in Acts 14:18-19.  In the first verse, the crowd tried to make sacrifices to Paul and Barnabus because they thought the two were gods.  In the very next verse..the very next one y'all... they STONED Paul and left him for dead because some others came and turned the crowd's heart in a different direction.  So the "crowd" is who I want to focus on.  Why are they so fickle? Because that is human nature, my friends.

This day in age, the "crowd" is another way to look at the audience that sits just beyond our computer screens.  Our crowd is our sphere of influence, those we preach to, if you will.  Our crowd is made up of our friends, family and our followers (now there's a term for you- disciple means follower, FYI).  I don't have many "followers" on my blog but I have 440 "friends" on Facebook.  Most of you probably have more than that, but 440!!  Thats a LOT of folks out there in my sphere of influence.  I think its okay to have a crowd, in fact I think Jesus would like that a lot.  I think his Facebook page would be as full as he could  make it (I think Jesus does indeed have a Facebook page).  What is not okay though is our need to impress the crowd for our own glory.  I think that this is an issue in my life and thats why the Lord put it on my heart but as I wrote in my journal I thought that maybe a few of my crowd could relate.  I think we must be so careful how we use these tools of technology.  We need to remember that everything we say, do, post, pin, share, like and follow says something to our crowd about how we feel about our faith.  I want to work on my witness to my internet "crowd", my sphere of influence, my followers.

Sure it makes us feel good when someone likes what we say or a picture we post but that is addictive.  It causes us to seek more and more approval from our fellow man (and women) and once you start down that path, the Lord's approval (what we should seek) becomes less and less necessary and important to us.  See how many spiritual likes you can get today from the one who matters.  Share his love, and re-pin his grace wherever you can.  Courageously comment, but only to His glory.  Search for his truth in the Word and then post it when you can.  Technology does not have to be our downfall but the Lord showed me yesterday how quickly it could be if we are not careful.  

I want to be clear about one thing: I do not think that we should only post bible verses or characteristics of God.  I think we should be real, because that is attractive to people.   I do not know about you but at least one of my 440 friends on Facebook are not believers.  What will detract from my witness to that person is constant words that they do not understand or agree with..words they do not like at this time in their lives.  What attracts them to me are the unique but relatable characteristics God gave me when he created me.  So the next time someone (believer or non-believer) likes something about you, say a prayer of thanks to the Lord who put that characteristic in you.  There is nothing we can post about that he did not have a hand in.  There is no instagramable image that we can photograph that God did not create.  There are no pins that God did not stick there.  We did not come up with anything on our own. So remember the next time you post, share, pin, like, instagram, and/or blog that it is all His.  Give thanks for these things and the technology that brings them to our eyes so instantaneously but please, please, please do not forget to worship only  the giver of these things, ideas, views, and thoughts- not the actual things, ideas, views, and thoughts themselves or the people who bring them to our eyes.

And here's one more thought on the subject:

I have a secret- I am pretty sure God is the only one who has a "love" button.  He clicks on that when we serve him and serve others and there is no better approval than that.  Here's the best part though, God's default is to LOVE.  That button is stuck, he has taken the key off his laptop and duct tapped it down.  He LOVES us ALL the time.  When we do things for his glory he loves us and when we mess up, he loves us.  When we stray, when we doubt, when we make mistakes, when we are not proud of ourselves, He loves us still.  He may not love everything we do or say or post or share but he loves US- our being- all the time.  He never changes, never alters, never fails. He never "de-friends"  us, he never ceases to follow us.  Put your trust in God, not the crowd, and remember that he is your friend in Jesus Christ.  

*Let it be*