I have no interest in adding to the noise, only the remedy. We are all children of the same great Spirit whose name and way is Love. So let us find a better way, together.
Our social media dilemma has become a monster of its own. I am certain that each one of us has felt the nasty sting of its bite at some point during our use of it. There is this strange detachment from reality that occurs, and words can be carelessly, even deviously flung about in a way that would never happen in face to face settings. At least that is my hope. I am here confessing that I have contributed to the problem just as I’ve been the recipient of its bloody scourging. I have also shared a lot of my heart on here, raw and honest, I’ve laid it all out before you - as many of you have as well. What a gift we can be to each other when we use this platform to uplift, encourage and call each other higher.
This year it feels like we entered a social experiment, the size of which has never been seen before: an information war they’re calling it. I’m not going into that, so don’t worry (!), but I’ve come to confess something and ask for your forgiveness.
I have been ridiculed, slandered, misunderstood and canceled - just as many of you have this year. It seems to me, we all too easily become the worst version of ourselves on these platforms. I fear if we continue like this, unchecked, we will destroy the gift this online community has given us and the beautifully diverse connections it fosters.
I have an incredible, international network of friends on these platforms (like most of you do as well!) and I love each of you so much! I don’t approach all of my relationships the same, however, and I don’t think I’m unique in this. I talk to my Mom very differently than I talk to my acquaintances from Church, and I talk to them differently than I talk to the girls I met at a concert two summers ago, and I talk to them differently than I talk to my best friends. We all do this! I think it’s called ‘emotional intelligence’ and just having a social life…? I don’t mean that I act like an entirely different person from one individual to the next, but that I share varying aspects of myself, always authentically, depending on the level of familiarity I have with that person. I would never, for example, approach certain topics with a friend or family member who hasn't committed their life to Jesus in the same way I would approach certain matters with a brother or sister in Christ - because we come from different worldviews and belief systems.
The problem we all face with social media is that most of us have wonderfully diverse friend groups, with all manner of individuals from different backgrounds, beliefs, core values, and lifestyles following along with our online presence. I’ve really struggled with this as a writer and natural ‘sharer’. I realize that some of my musings will resonate with one group of people while they could cause another group of people to feel confused as to what I’m talking about, or even angry with me. Having opinions and sharing stories and revelations from my walk with God is not illegal, though it feels that way sometimes - but hurting people is definitely NOT something I ever want to do, unintentionally or otherwise.
Last week I was told I was ‘disgusting’ by a person who does not know me personally at all, beyond my social pages. I cried hot tears that stung my heart over this and the many other things this person felt comfortable saying to me via instant messenger. It hit me like a baseball bat to the face, just how potentially misunderstood I could be by so many people I care about, and how my words can be used to hurt others without my intending to do so at all. It made me want to never share another personal thought or story or picture again.
But. The Healer came to me this week, faithful as He is, and spoke truth words over me that mended what was torn and sore. The Truth does set you free.
I know who I am because I know whose I am. And because I know whose I am, I know who and what I represent on this earth: a Kingdom not seen, one that is here already and coming still.
Because of my love for Jesus and my commitment to live as an ambassador for Him, I am bound to His ministry of reconciliation as my chief aim in life. My Jesus, the one who heals me of all my bruises and shattered places, used words of life to speak my heart back into vibration with His and in so doing, took me to a new level of understanding the power of words. He showed me that ‘being right’ can never be my chief goal in any conversation because that place is already taken by a commitment to love unconditionally, covering a multitude of offenses.
So, at the behest of my Healer, whose words restore and comfort me, always bringing me back to the purity of Love, I ask forgiveness if ever my words (admittedly carelessly flung about at times and not carefully padded with love and humility) have hurt you. If this has happened this year or ever, I ask your forgiveness. Not for having an opinion do I apologize, or for sharing personal revelations from the Lord, but for holding my opinion over our relationship.
I stand corrected by the loving words of my Healer in 1 Corinthians 13, arguably the most powerful description of love EVER, and I am not too proud to admit my sometimes unintentional, sometimes obtuse lack of love.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-8
And so, because I am pursuing a life so charged, conformed, compelled and possessed by Love, the overwhelming cry of my heart is that nothing would speak louder than God’s caressing, unconditional voice of love from my life to yours. Because you guys, His love is ENDLESS, UNconditional, and available free of charge every.single.day.
“Cast your cares on Him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:8
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” John 15:9
If the only way out is through, let us find a better way, together. Let us strive to enter the narrow way of Love, pursuing relationship over all else, and speaking words of life into the very core of our beings. Come on friends, we were made for this!
Peace, Love, & FULL BODY HUGS, Natalie
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