I love social media – it’s a formal enterprise useful for retrieving highlights and key moments in other people’s lives. At times it can be used in a “stalker-ish” manner – to get the details of another without having to face-to-face ask; but for the most part it’s a helpful positive tool… am I right?
Yet there is one smallish-to-large problem I have with social media and my use of it over the past several years. It’s typically the highlights posted – and I rarely see the low-lights or challenges of my friends or myself headlining my news-feed. Moments like: great hangouts, funny occurrences, and “Throwback Thursdays” to cuter versions of me have filled my online feed; yet hardships like: the pain of leaving behind friends in other countries, broken friendships and hurting relationships, and changes that shake our very souls are not publicized or addressed in the public sphere. These are what I shall “label” the “un-postables” in my life.
I’m not writing to say that Facebook/twitter/etc. should be a platform to share our woes and hurts 24/7,yet I am realizing that I deliberately highlight the splendid occurrences of my life and have a hard time sharing or explaining the rough “un-postables”, making everything seem hunky-dory, when in reality it’s not… Even worse, later on I find I expect others to understand the grief I’m feeling – but no one has a clue because all I’ve been posting or sharing on media is the new sunrise or the funny one-liner I overheard.
So welcome to my first “un-postable.”
We know the Bible never says that the Christian life shall be un-tainted and postable for all to see perfection. The reality is we all have those“un-postables” or things that may be hard to share or explain. We have hardships that are tough to vocalize, yet we cannot be surprised by these, or cower away suppressing them.
Some of my fears and concerns regarding the World Race have felt “un-postable”… do I dare say that at times I wonder how I will ‘survive’ the 11 months away? Or that right now I don’t see the “fun” in fundraising? More of these thoughts exist and many of these have made me question my abilities to carry out the task of fundraising, in addition to packing properly to survive varying temperatures on different continents. Yet little by little God is showing me through others that I am fully capable of thriving in this sometimes frightening, exciting and likewise scary adventure ahead.
So as I let you in on one small “un-postable” in my life – I am reminded that we aren’t all a bundle of perfection because we follow Christ. Rather we know that God who began a good work in all of us, will carry it on to completion because that’s how great our God is (:
Stay tuned for more of my thoughts and musings on preparations for the World Race.
Up next – Putting the FUN back into Fundraising! (:
