Tweet and ReTweet and other Status Updates...

I have not jumped on the bandwagon and joined Twitter. Although I think their little blue bird is completely adorable, I just can't allow myself to do it. Frankly, I’m a little bit afraid. Facebook is kind of like crack to me, and I really don’t think I could fit another aspect of social networking into my day. Something would have to give, and with the very real fear that it might be eating chocolate or personal hygiene, I’ve decided NOT to tweet.

That being said, I have something to say about all the status updates. Recently, a ‘friend’ (really more of an acquaintance, but a very nice lady nonetheless, and while I can befriend someone on fb, I can’t ‘be-acquaintance’ anyone) challenged me to post a status update each day during the month of November that begins, “Today I am thankful for…” I don’t know really how many days I’ve been at it, but probably four or five. I challenged other friends, and have enjoyed reading the heartfelt and the humorous. My sister-in-law posted that she was thankful that she could play Farmville with the ones she loves. I commented after her that I was thankful that those who love me would overlook the fact that I don’t play Farmville. Some status updates, however, are pointless. Boring, even. I choose to waste the time and read them, but for the life of my, don’t want to or even know why. I know that my friends go to WalMart. I know that they fix dinner. I know that ‘homework is poop’ (this from a middle schooler in my youth group). But I don’t need a minute-by-minute, play-by-play of their days. I think this is probably one of the reasons I’ve avoided Twitter. It would just suck me into to doing the same thing. I am not criticizing them…I just know that I would be oh, so much more painfully pointless than all of these. It's all very inane and maybe even the devil's workshop is an empty status box....

What struck me yesterday was thinking about praying without ceasing. I try to do that throughout my day. Not a formal prayer, necessarily, but a ‘thank you,’ and ‘I love you,’ a ‘HELP!’ from time to time. Kind of like tweets to God. But God knows beforehand what my tweet-like prayers would be. I just wonder, though: We choose what we share on facebook or Twitter. But I don’t think I’ve seen many status updates that talk about being rude to the clerk at the bank, or not saying anything when you receive too much change, or using language and gestures not appropriate to a woman of God while driving in traffic, or thinking to yourself that your friend is just too high maintenance and lying about being busy when she needs a shoulder. God, however, knows about those unshared thoughts. Those tweets that go untweeted. I want to live my life so that I would remember that God is following my tweets and status updates. And so that I would not be ashamed to have Him read them. As I go through the mundane tasks of my day, God knows what I’m doing. He is in the details, after all. But I want to make those details count. When I make a choice, I think I will try to ask myself, “Would I want God to read my status update about this?”

Just something to think about.