Cutting ties 

The more and more I don’t talk to people and I stick to myself, the more I see how the world works. For the past few years, I’d struggle with having a presence on social media. I gave up Facebook years ago and never looked back. Instagram was a different story though. You see, I love to write and recently the popularity of posting a photo with a lengthy caption on Instagram took off… especially in Christian  society.

I still remember the first person I ever followed that captioned their photos having something to do with their faith and Jesus. Soon after following that first account, accounts with the same content weren’t hard to find. Content such as perfectly posed pictures of ones legs featuring coffee and bibles opened with notes accompanied with ones arm holding coffee- representing time with Jesus. It wasn’t long until I realized, Instagram was now becoming a tool to connect believers together, and nonbelievers to Christ. I decided since I believe in the Lord and strive to live for Him, why couldn’t I make a difference for the Lord? By sharing my words with pictures on Instagram?

I quickly found myself posting pictures that I liked with my words as the caption. I also accompanied my photos with hashtags. After 8 months of having that Instagram account, I decided I needed a break bad. It was nice posting pictures and writing to an audience. If I’m being honest though, it became too much. I honestly don’t know how all those women do it. I have no idea how they have the time to take such beautiful pictures and constantly update their Instagram stories. I barely have enough time to write. Honestly, I feel like we as a society have lost touch with what real looks like.
Ever since Instagram took off in 2010, people have been becoming famous off of it. We live in the type of society that if your popular enough, noticed enough.. you’ll be successful. How sickening is that?

I  think back to Jesus and how He was often the outcast. He was often rejected by so many religious leaders yet His truth was the only truth worth listening to.

I don’t think we understand anymore just how lost we’ve become. If you think about it, no ones life really looks like their Instagram feed. Yet, we constantly portray our lives to look a certain way, and in reality they are no way as cultivated and beautifully crafted as that. It used to be just comparing yourself to other women on Instagram, by seeing them do yoga poses you haven’t yet mastered, seeing them look the way you want to look, seeing them having fun on vacation at the beach, etc. Now it’s turned into, “hey, let me tell you about my faith.” That’s all good and dandy.

I commend us for sharing our faith with others. What I don’t commend is sharing our faith and our lives in such a way, that only highlights the good and not the bad.

 

Maybe a few months from now, I’ll be in a different place where I’ll feel like I have the authority to share something. For now, I’ll continue to write on my blog until I’m at the place I no longer compare or get trapped in endless scrolls of other people’s feeds. Because in the end I don’t need to be like anyone else.

I don’t need to have faith like them, I just need to have faith like Jesus.

As I sit here right now, I’m not so sure I do. I don’t acknowledge people the way Jesus did. I’ve become so closed off and focused on myself that I don’t really care about interacting with people. Listening to everyone around me, all they seem to do is talk about others, constantly. They curse and say nasty words or talk about their accomplishments. I don’t want to be like that.

I want to be the type of person who talks about Jesus, about the freedom I’ve found, about the joy I have in taking care of myself every day, about the grace I’ve found when I don’t beat myself up about everything, about the love I’ve found for the people God has placed in my life.. etc.

I find it hard to do with the people around me. I’ll say hi how are you, and talk about general subjects with others. But it’s been hard to find meaningful relationships, let alone have meaningful conversations with the people around me. And to be honest that doesn’t really bother me because this is just a chapter in my life. 10 months more and I’ll be onto bigger and better things.

What is one thing you’ve learned from social media? Do you find yourself closed off from others or is it easy for you to interact with people you don’t necessarily relate to?

Love and grace,

L