No More Facebook Fuming

...so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. Philippians 2:14-16a

 

 

Five years ago, I created my Facebook account just to share photos of my granddaughter with extended family members. No more waiting in line for my one-day-developing at the local pharmacy or stalking the mailbox for that thick envelope of glossy paper prints. Facebook and the Internet brought instant cyber-satisfaction.

 

Daily cyber reunions filled my evenings as one-by-one I reconnected with high school and college classmates I hadn't seen or spoken with since graduation. After a few weeks and lengthy notes our daily (hourly) FB status reports kept us connected and informed. It was like reading Christmas letters in little daily spurts.

 

Welcomed or not, Facebook not only gave me a daily dose of friendship, but it gave the writer-me an instant platform from which to share my wordy-passion. Where else could a no-name author share her opinions and stories with an instant world-wide audience? So, I started blogging and thinking out loud on Facebook.

So did the rest of the world.

It's crazy out there in Facebook-land. Everyone has an opinion and many aren't so kind or wise or thoughtful. Many just grumble. I call it Facebook fuming. Some people just love to share the awfulness of their day in hopes that misery loves company and somebody will join them. I don't know. I mean, sometimes it does feels good to vomit all the negativity in some pithy post, but seriously, on a daily or hourly basis? It's just not healthy.

While I mostly process life on my blog, I carefully choose words that tell truth in love and encourage one another because that's how Jesus instructs us to speak. As believers in the gospel (good news) how much more important to encourage one another in the "permanent" written words that can be read repeatedly? We are called to be the Light in the darkness that bring hope to this lost earth. Why then, do some feel it necessary to add to the darkness?

While I'm willing to share life on a heart to heart level - and life doesn't always come with rainbows and roses - let's share life's journey in such as way that encourages one another and brings God glory?

Paul says, "...encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." I Thessalonians 5:14b-18
 

Let's make a conscious effort, whether in a blog post or a status update, that all our words reflect God's goodness in EVERY circumstance, encourage our readers and shine God's Light. Join me?

 

Unfading Beauty...Is it Possible?

"Your beauty...should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." 1Peter 4:3-4

As a woman, I secretly wish for unfading beauty. When I dare look at my reflection in the mirror, I wonder, "Who's that woman staring back at me?" She lends me the not-so-subtle reminder that time ticks by faster than my twenty-year-old self thought it ever could.

I'm grateful when my husband whispers that I'm more beautiful now than when we first married (all together now..."awww") but I can't help but notice the wrinkles, the white hair, and oh yes, the double-digits on the tag of my jeans that creep higher and higher every year behind my back.

What a relief to know God doesn't care about all that! Well...sort of.

I wrestle with God all the time with that gentler, quieter self he's looking for. If that's what God desires of me, then why did he make me who I am...the not-so-quiet, not-so-gentle me?

So, I asked God about this today, "God, how do I cultivate this gentle, quiet spirit you desire?"

God said, "It's in the knowing Me better. It's all about knowing I Am...laying everything about you at the cross; crucify the self - your past, present and future - and consciously let it go. Relinquish control."

In a word, surrender.

It's all about surrendering to God because everything else holds us captive, strangles us until we can't breathe.

But when we breathe God in, He fills - fills us up with His light - and darkness flees. For light and darkness cannot exist in the same place. Light always overcomes the dark, especially the soul dark.

His light fills and softens the dark, makes our rough edges gentler to the touch. And the more we surrender to His light, breathe Him in, the more our bodies warm - soul deep. And when a body is soul-deep warm, it quiets.

And what's more attractive to a captive, smothering world spinning crazy than a gentle, quiet spirit?

So, I stare back at that unfamiliar woman in the mirror and smile.

If I cannot but help surrender my outer beauty to time, then I choose to surrender my inner self, my soul and the essence of who I am, to unfading beauty through God my Creator. I lay all that I am (past, present and future) at the foot of the cross and pray the longer I stay in His Presence, the quieter, gentler Him will shine through this fading beauty. 

And the brighter He shines and spills over, maybe, just maybe the world will surrender, too. And maybe this world will warm - grow gentle and quiet.