“When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” ~ Luke 2:17-19
God met me last week.
I’d love to tell you about it, and nearly tweeted it. But I didn’t, and won’t. Here’s why.
Lately I’ve started considering how often I post updates on my public pages (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) simply to collect responses, like a coin collection that increases in value the more I hear the clank of change in my pocket. I’m not sure if it is the sales side of me or simply my insecurity that seeks the feedback. Likely it is a combination of both. Either way, I found myself posting updates like this:
“Enjoyed the most beautiful sunset behind the mountains tonight. Took my breath away, as if God had painted it especially for me.”
Lovely, isn’t it? And entirely true, but so is this …
Minutes after posting, I hover over my online personality, anxiously gathering the comments of those who either witnessed the same sunset or enjoyed the picture cast by my words. I count them up, as if evaluating the worth of my experience and my ability to reproduce it online against the feedback of my Facebook friends. And it hit me …
Am I savoring the feedback more than the sunset itself???
I wonder if that’s why Mary quietly treasured her experiences rather than broadcasting them. At times my own treasured moments have been cheapened in my publicity of them. Rather than allowing those sweet moments between God and me to be an infusion of life to my soul, I post them to a public memo board, looking for the affirmations of near strangers to fill the void.
Perhaps God watches my folly and shakes his head at my desperate attempts to find meaning in my experiences. And then I imagine he says, “Silly girl. Didn’t you see my sunset???”
Like I said: God met me this week. And that’s all I need to say about that.
How about you? Ever tweeted something that should have been treasured?
We treasured a lot of things we didn’t tweet in the mountains. 🙂 I’m not sure I could even come up with words to tweet if I tried.
Me, too, Danica. Such a nice retreat. Chrystie, I love the Beth Moore quote. What a great picture reminder!
Boy, do I love this post. I have been on a similar journey with God lately. I recently heard Beth Moore say that we shouldn’t pass it until its planted. I have been chewing on that one for a couple of weeks now. Love your transparency in this post. I think it is a fairly common epidemic among those of us on twitter, facebook, blogs. I have seen several bloggers talking about this recently. And I know I am so guilty of the exact same thing.
ohhhh… i so do that.
hmmmm….
Oouch, I don’t tweet, but I’m still guilty of the same thing. It minimizes the intimacy Christ so desires with us.
I agree, Jerolyn. Almost as if watering down with cup-fulls of extra stuff.