Everything seems to move so fast, doesn't it? We are always in such a rush and become easily frustrated when we can't keep up the pace we have set for ourselves. The traffic is too slow, the check-out line at the supermarket is too long. The clock is tick-tick-ticking and we're frozen. Powerless to keep moving. Frustration sets in. The need to be somewhere, to finish this thing to get on to the next.
The Christmas holidays are a great example of this. How many times have you been waiting in line for what can only seem like forever to get the latest gizmos on your shopping list. You see people start to fidget, you hear the sound of heavy sighs...you know, the ones usually accompanied by an eye roll. People in the line start to make nasty comments about the checker, as if this person set out this morning to be personally responsible for their delay. When it's finally their turn to pay and leave you notice some people being openly rude or hostile to the poor individual working minimum wage as extra help just so they can afford to buy gifts for their own kids. Yes, nothing speaks to the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior like a brawl at a Walmart over a discounted flat screen television.
Social media can also be a double-edged sword. Keeping your elbows off the table has been replaced by no texting during dinner. Provided, of course, your family actually still sits down together at the dinner table. The family mealtime is often another casualty of our desire to fit as much into a day as we can.
Young people today live in a world with things like texting, sexting, tweeting and vining. And it's not just the kiddies doing it, people of all ages are connecting with others using the internet. If you're reading this, we're doing it right now. There are a lot of great advantages to social media, it can be a fantastic way to gather news and information, reach out to other people with common interests and touch base with old friends. It can be used to spread positive messages as long as we remember that the words coming from our keyboard are every bit as powerful as the words that come out of our mouth.
Remember that old saying about sticks and stones? Whoever said the part about "words will never hurt me" was wrong. Words can hurt, and hurt badly. The anonymity of the internet has the capability to embolden us to use our First Amendment right to free speech to occasionally lapse into verbal diarrhea. We can say anything we want to anyone we choose with little fear of repercussion, other than perhaps a guilty conscience after the fact.
But it doesn't have to be that way. We can take a page out of the old get-your-elbows-off-the-table etiquette book. We can start to introduce things into our everyday encounters with others such as manners, patience, kindness and civility. Start thinking before we speak...or type. Ask ourselves, "What do I hope to accomplish by saying XYZ ?"
There is a guy I enjoy following on Facebook and Twitter named Billy Hallowell. He is the Faith Editor for The Blaze and a Christian. I think his way of approaching social media sites could lead us all by example. He posts interesting news stories, sometimes interjecting his personal comments as well. Sometimes you get a glimpse into his personal life when he shares the latest photo of his little daughter Ava. Many times he will just post a verse from the Bible, seemingly random. I can't tell you how many times I have been scanning a page and stopped on a verse he has shared that I really needed at just that moment. That is how God uses us, my friends. In the little ways.
The next time you are in a long line at the store, maybe you could take a minute to smile and chat with the frazzled check-out person. If you read a post somewhere that really irritates you, perhaps you could take a breath and ask yourself if it's really all that important before you respond. Maybe you could bring some joy into someone else's difficult day by posting something like this, which I saw on Billy Hallowell's Facebook page this week:
It's the little things we do, the ways in which we relate to each other that make the difference not only in our lives, but in the lives of others. How will you share your joy today?
Blessings.
