It’s been a long day. I’m exhausted. I spent over 6 hours in the car doing the commute thing today so my mind might not be as crisp (notice I didn’t use “sharp”) as it normally is. I almost did it though. I almost pulled the plug on Facebook. I was literally “this close” to doing it. The reasons are several. I find it exhausting anymore. Especially now that we are in a political year. I find it more irritating than positive. People have every right to post what they want. I have every right to not read it, or shut it down. It’s really that simple. Another reason? This quote:

I also came to realize that I had actually let triple-digit “friends” become a status. I had taken pride in getting responses to witty things I’d post, or compliments from long lost acquaintances about my beautiful family or my relative “success” in life. Once again, I saw that the depth of my pride knows no bounds. And in the months since that experience, I’ve been chewing on this question: What else do we allow to define us?

(from the upcoming book “Embracing Obscurity)

Ouch. I’m not sure if that hits home for you, but it was pretty close to my front door step. Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t use Facebook for prideful reasons. Well, at least I didn’t realize I did. I think this happened so subtly. It kinda snuck up on me. We all check it. We all want to see who said what. We all want to come up with something everyone “likes”. In many ways, it’s a pride issue and I didn’t even know it was there.

So what happened? Why didn’t I pull the plug? Because no sooner did I set my phone down I got a notification. It was from a “friend request” I accepted the day before. It was from a guy that stole my girlfriend in high school (it was a short relationship, but still). It was from a guy that wasn’t exactly my best friend. It was from a guy that was kind of a rival. I accepted because time has a way of healing old wounds. His notification read:

Thank you for being a friend

Boom. The words just hit me in the chest. I read them three or four times. I went to my “wall” to read it again. Then I read his about section and a word jumped out at me…”Sober”. Boom. Another blow to the chest. This is why I stay on Facebook. A still small voice was almost audible. This is why you don’t unplug it. He/she/they are why you are still here.

This morning during my 3 hour drive, Kari Jobe sang “we are the light of the world, We are a city on a hill. We are the light of the world and we’ve gotta, we’ve gotta, we’ve gotta let our light shine”. Later during the same drive, I opened up “YouVersion”, today’s scripture –

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:16)

See a pattern here? At the end of the day, we have a choice to make. We can allow the frustrating things about Facebook be what they are and extinguish our light (and our account), or we can be light. That’s why my account is still open. That’s why I want to say, to the one that left that on my wall….

Thank YOU for being a friend.

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