We live in such a strange world these days. Relationships as our grandparents or even parents knew it just no longer exist. No longer are friendships based on communication via letter, phone calls or in person visiting, but rather worlds of online and cellular networking called Twitter, Facebook, texting and email.
And it is not just youth or even young adults who are living into the latest trends, but older adults too. It seems the number of "friend" requests I get for Facebook from persons over 50 is growing by the day.
I don't mean to bring up this topic to sound like a anti-technology person. I've always loved any form of communication and I have tried to fully embraced the latest trends (minus getting email on my cell phone which I simply refuse to do for boundaries reasons). I think it great for my world of acquaintances, family and friends to be more in touch with one another's lives on a regular basis. Hey, this is one of the reasons, among many others, that I blog with such consistency!
But, what concerns me is that seemingly more and more of my friendships are based online communication only. I meet up with persons whom I haven't seen for a while and learn they know more about me than I've ever thought they knew from reading up on my online postings: my twitters, my facebook status or my blogs.
The problem with this is that without seeing your face and you seeing mine, or without hearing your voice and you hearing mine or at least without seeing your handwritting and you seeing mine, we miss a level of connection that is lost in blog comments, facebook wall posts and twitter direct replies. What we miss out on together is the opportunity to listen well, recongize our true intentions and motivations, and I think also the chance to be truly friends instead of just the Facebook kind.
For these reasons, I am more thankful for the persons who surround my daily life through their physical presence. I am thankful that my days always begin in conversations with my husband Kevin. I am thankful that I spend time chatting with Deb, the Church Administrator (and usually Ernie, the Chair of Trustees, too) during my mornings in the office. I am thankful for the persons who choose to make appointments with me to talk over something instead of emailing only. I am thankful for friends of mine who take time out of their busy lives to share a meal and time for unhurried catching up. I am thankful for our weekends that are usually spent in conversations over dinner and activities with our church and community friends. All of these in person events are blessings I think I cherish more often now. Such moments are no longer the norm, they are modern-day gifts!
While I embrace the online world of communication and pastoring, I am happy that the real world in which I move and breathe still has persons in it that I can see, hear and embrace. While it seems that our online connectness continues to grow and bring us closer together in some ways, I will remain committed to communication the old fashion way too. Ultimately, I believe that real friends, in-person friends are the better kind to have and the kind that the church needs more of too.
