It’s amazing to me how quickly God can begin to change a heart, and in that vein I’m reminded of a situation that happened to me about five months ago. In the summer my personal Facebook account was hacked, and by hacked I don’t mean someone took my photo and tried to impersonate me. I mean someone used an old email attached to my Facebook account to take control of it and make it their own. I was briefly able to get in and see where he changed my profile picture, added his friends, and posted on my timeline in another language. Then I got kicked out as he changed the primary email and phone number associated with my account. I reported it, Facebook shut it down immediately, and I never got it or my author page back again.
Y’all, I won’t lie; I was devastated. Ten years I held that personal account, and the author page held followers of my blog from across the globe. I ran a lucrative home-based business from social media and a world-recognized blog, and when I lost it all I was downright depressed. God went along to show me I could make money with my business despite the loss of customers, and He went on to give me another viral blog post within a month’s time. After all, God will work out what He wants worked out despite what the world does. It’s my job to remember that.
But back to priorities. It bothered me that losing my Facebook bothered me. You know what I mean? I didn’t want to admit that I had more invested in social media than I really needed, and from that point forward God began to change my way of thinking. I wondered just how much importance I placed on a platform that couldn’t even see my heart but just a tiny little bit. It began an introspection into why what anyone thought even mattered.
It seems we’ve transformed ourselves into a society that is always ready to pose, always ready to document our lives, and eager to see who all approves. I mean, not a single one of us wants to admit it, but how many of us dress our kids for the day with the idea in mind of taking a photo and posting it to Instagram? In our desire to share the highlight reel of every day we’re creating children who place value on how they look, our own identity on how much attention our efforts are garnering, and a mindset that sees life as a stage. We’re all walking around like we have our own personal paparazzi, and we’re equipping our kiddos to assume the same.
What are our priorities?
When I was a kid I got to be a kid. I got to get dirty in my mismatched, ill-fitting play clothes while my disheveled hair, with nary an enormous, matching bow, half-covered my smiling face. It was a face that smiled because it was having fun, not because my mom was telling me to say cheese. My clothes came from thrift stores, and namebrands were not even a consideration. There wasn’t that much of a concern over what all the other girls were wearing, certainly not like it is today. And I am quite certain my mother didn’t give two toots what the other mothers thought about the way she dressed me.
What are our priorities?
So why do we as mothers today place sooooo much importance on the brand our children are wearing, what’s the latest trend, and if they are measuring up to the other kids in class?
Why are we worried about how many extra-curricular activities they’re involved in, and if we’re hitting the mark with our overloaded volunteer activities as a participating parent? Little Susie has to be in dance, gymnastics, and cheer because little Jan’s mom is handling it all just fine, and doesn’t her hair look fantastic?
What are our priorities?
We’re overly concerned with the opinion of our peers, but most of us are not in high school anymore. I think we’ve forgotten that. We think we need the shiny SUV and the big house. Why? Because that’s what everyone else has. Just look at their photos on Facebook.
Easter Sunday becomes about obligatory photos of perfect, smiling faces in beautiful dresses and shiny suits. And don’t forgot about the baskets. My goodness, the baskets! A plethora of photos of Easter baskets that have exploded out of the basket, across the table, and draped itself over the sofa. Easter has basically become Christmas Morning Part 2. But it’s cool because we go to church for like an hour and remind ourselves about that whole resurrection business. Now on to the egg hunt and ceiling-high, chocolate bunnies!
Listen, I’m not saying I don’t dye eggs and give my daughters candy. I do. And that’s fine and dandy. I love tradition. But I wonder how much merit we misplace on these things? When did birthdays become so big that we stress ourselves for the Pinterest-perfect theme, or break the bank on that very photogenic cake? When did we start thinking we have to buy a billion presents for our kids on Christmas? I love giving my children gifts too, but can’t we all be honest that they don’t even play with half the stuff?
So here we are taking pictures of ourselves for social media packing a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. We’re so proud of that $1 doll we bought for a needy child overseas! Now hurry up and take off work early so you can go put over $500 of plastic parts in layaway for your own little one. Hey, I’m guilty; I get it.
But what are our priorities?
None of us want to downsize from our two story home to a trailer, after all. What would people think? We’ll keep working hours away from our family to pay that big mortgage, and give our spouse our emotional crumbs at the end of the day. We’ll place value on things like a big screen TV and a vacation that pulls out all the stops. I mean, we need that week at Disney together to make up for the fact that we barely see one another the other 358 days a year.
What are our priorities?
Why are we working all the time to buy all the things, and why do we spend such an elaborate amount of time sharing that with basically strangers? I’ve been asking myself the same kinds of questions. We’re living a life where a slow internet connection ticks us off, but we can ignore the homeless guy on the corner, the abused woman in our ladies’ group, or the hundreds or thousands of hungry kids within our own school district.
Recently when we put our house on the market I began to have a lot of people ask me why. They wanted to know our plans.
“Didn’t you just buy that home a couple of years ago?”
“You have a beautiful home! Why would you want to move?!”
I found myself stammering. I wasn’t sure what to say. How did I say, “we’re selling 90 percent of our possessions and going out on the road to spread the love of Jesus to everyone we meet.” It certainly sounded unconventional to me, and last night I realized I might even be a little worried people would think we were crazy. I asked myself what my priorities were. Were they concerns over what others thought of me? Or were they doing the will of God?
Was it stuff that mattered to me, or time with my family?
Was my priority to fit in with the status quo, American dream? I mean, for some people that’s their medium, that’s where they are called to serve the Lord. But what I’m learning as my husband and I seek the Lord about our priorities is it’s not for us. We are being called to something different, and it feels good!
What are our priorities?
I think whether you live in a mansion or a box it’s a good idea to ask yourself what causes you joy in life. Is it others opinions, or actions that are directed towards gaining their approval? Or is it living for Kingdom purposes? Are we teaching our children what society nowadays totes as important, or are we showing them how loving mankind is what truly matters? Are we living in a worldly mindset, or are we looking at life with an eternal view? This life, the one we stress out so much over, it’s just a flash in the pan! So why are we placing so much value on the things that don’t matter? Much of what we’re counting as important is here today, but gone tomorrow. So my question is, are we investing our time and energies in the things we can take to Heaven with us?
What are our priorities?
It’s a good question. It’s one I’m still asking myself every day. As always, I’m a work in progress with many missteps along the way. So while I’m not in any way saying you have to sell all your possessions, give the money to the poor, and move your entire family to a far corner of the planet to serve God, I am saying that we all can be blinded by the things of this world. They’re bright and shiny, and they’re really good at distracting us and taking our eyes off Jesus. So here’s what I want.
I want to live tomorrow seeing with eyes like the Lord much more than I do today. I want to be so in tune with what God wants for my life that I don’t even feel the need to be bothered by anything that He doesn’t want for me. I want to love like He does, give like He directs me to, and keep my focus on what’s important. And when I say give I’m not just talking about money. We are called to give our hearts and time for His kingdom, and I’m wondering when exactly we forgot this part?
So maybe all this sounds crazy to you, and perhaps you’re even laughing. That’s okay. I’m growing more and more towards a place where the approval of man means less and less. I want the light of God to shine out of my life, to love those around me, and to lead others to His face. The rest of it is just busy work. It’s how we spend time until He calls us home. So I figure if I have the time to spend, I might better spend it well, and when I stand before God on judgement day, I hope I’ll see an account of my life that will bring more joy than sadness. It’s good to see that for now I can very well apply editing to images of my day, but I’m wise to realize that one day everything will absolutely be #nofilter.
