forgotten how to social

I have forgotten how to social media. I remember a time when it was easy, posting pics of outings with friends and family or sharing funny stories of parenting mishaps, but now everything feels un-postable.

I am either completely content, holed up in my house with books and coffee and family, an introvert’s dream, or I am angrily seething at the injustice of, well, everything else.

Neither end of this see-saw feels right for the ‘gram, which leaves me wondering how to even use social media anymore.

The old adage, “picture or it didn’t happen”, falls flat these days.
So many important things are happening but few feel picture worthy.

What I wish is that there was a space where we could share experiences about the God we see daily, even now. I want to hear those tucked away stories where we recognize God peeking into our lives in ways that only feel meaningful to us.

These places used to exist in coffee shop corners with friends, on front porch swings with family, or in candle-lit holy spaces, folded in prayer. We would find one another when we needed a chat and a reminder that God is still here, working away in our lives, even amidst the pain.

Social media was never meant to expose these precious stories to the world. It was only ever a relationship supplement, enough to keep the thread of friendship alive, but never meant to satisfy the longing we have for connection with one another.

Now that the ‘gram is all that we have, I’ve found that it is never enough. Instead of making me feel more at one with my people, I feel more separated than ever, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling in at attempt to fill a hole that only widens the longer I’m on. Shadows are never as good as the real thing.

I miss weekends with girlfriends where we talk about everything and nothing, but in that loss, I’ve rediscovered a version of God I had forgotten. I’m so used to finding God in my people that I forget that even when they are not here, God is, ready and waiting for a chat.

Our relationship has moved beyond Sundays and snippets of scripture and into an awareness of what it means to be a member of a God’s global community. Through this pandemic experience, my world has widened to include more joy and more pain than I can sometimes handle, but it still feels like a gift.

Cheers to our lives which may no longer be social media presentable, but will always be filled with the importance that a life influenced by God can bring.