Social Media

For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20 NLT) I find that social media makes us lazy. Sure you can find people from the past, you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to catch up with, but we don’t need to make much of an effort to stay in touch with people. We can read their statuses, look at their pictures, and read their profile section. So before you know it, you haven’t actually talked to that person in months and years. You know where they are and what they are doing, but you haven’t really had a meaningful connection with them. When tragedy struck a good friend of mine from a long time ago, it really hit me hard. I felt helpless and I suppose that’s the usual feeling people get when a friend or loved one is affected by painful circumstances. I thought of times, where I had coffee with friends to chat and lend an ear, or brought over food. What do you do in a situation where you haven’t talked to someone in so long? It’s not only awkward, but at that point, they have other go-to people. Not that I need to be a person’s go-to person, but it’s knowing that you are so far uninvolved in someone’s life is the sad part. So I kind of sat there in my memories of the past and feeling bad for lack of connection with meaningful people of my past. And not just my friend who suffered a loss, I thought of other people I had lost touch with or haven’t been making a big effort to stay in contact with. There’s something so superficial about posting on someone’s wall or sending them a private message. It’s not the same as sitting right in front of them and having a cup of coffee with them. Or calling them on the phone. Laughing and crying with someone. How healing is it to just laugh with a good friend? There’s not enough LOL’s and emoticons out there to provide the same feeling you have from a face to face or phone call with a friend or family member. Just has it says in Matthew 18, when two or three of His followers are gathered, "I am there among them." How cool is that? What a blessing it is to bask in His presence. Which is probably why you feel so refreshed when you meet up with a good friend. As my daughter would say, "get out of your phone (or computer)" and go and meet a friend in person. You won't be disappointed.