What just happened here?

I sat down, excitedly, Tuesday night to type up my Wednesday Weigh In post for this week. I had pictures ready and felt the week had been a success. I would just type it up and plug in if I lost in the morning and click publish. But my mind kept getting distracted and somehow this happened instead.

I've seen a lot of people's New Years resolutions talking about giving up Facebook or limiting time spent on it. I personally don't have a problem with Facebook. Ok, maybe I do have a problem with Facebook, maybe I spend way too much time on it, but that's not what I meant. I meant I don't have a problem with using it. My struggle with all social media comes from fearing I have overshared or with knowing what personal things I should share. Praying before posting generally eliminates this problem... if I actually take the time to pray first. Occasionally blog posts are just thrown together, but I generally I have spent a lot of time writing and rewriting posts before they ever actually make it to the computer. You can usually tell if I just threw something together out of emotion on Facebook, Blogger or even Twitter. I try to remember that everything I share should be a direct reflection of Jesus. I try to remember that the things I post may be the only glimpse some people have into what it looks like to live as a Christian, this includes the good days and the bad days.

Of course there is no absolute right or wrong way for each of us to post, each of us should only share what they feel comfortable sharing. However, abiding by some general rules of etiquette isn't too much to ask is it? I personally have really tried to get away from posting tons of personal information on my page. I often find myself putting the more personal things in a blog post, or on Twitter. My thought was always if someone really wants to read it they will click on the blog, but I suppose that still doesn't always mean it should still be shared. Now don't get me wrong, I still post personal stuff, some stuff is just plain funny, or sad, or exciting and I share those things without a second thought most times. If you haven't noticed a lot of my social media revolves around just how much I love Jesus. I can't help it, Jesus saved me. I was drowning in this thing called life and He saved me. I can never repay Him and amazingly He doesn't expect me too. So the least I can do for the rest of my life is tell people just how wonderful He is. And for me social media sites such as these are just another way to do that.

But the whole time I was trying to put my weekly weight loss blog online I couldn't stop wondering why I spend so much time on social media sites that encourage us to boast in ourselves? Do I really need to share with everyone all about my week of eating and working out? Probably not. 

On a personal level I was having a hard time justifying all that comes with keeping up with other peoples personal posts, as well as sharing my own. I suddenly became aware of just how much time I spend on myself when I don't even realize I do. Once I started looking I realized just how much gossip, cursing and hurt can be thrown around each day on social media sites. It's like our own little daily OK magazine. But instead of big name celebrties those around us become the victims of the tabloid. And it seems that many of us actually seek to make ourselves the star. Some of us seem to desire for everyone to be following us and keeping up with our life happenings, talking about our greatness, our children's greatness. (Maybe all of us?) Please hear me out, sites such as Facebook are wonderful tools for keeping up with friends and family and connecting groups of people. Groups such as my sons school page, my women's group pages, a weight loss group and more. As someone who previously led a women's group it was wonderful to have about 90% of the women from the group on Facebook, to be able to quickly ask for help when a need arose in our clothing ministry, inviting everyone to events, reminding about upcoming activities and more.

The question still remained however, what changes did I need to make? If I'm honest this thought started days ago and it wasn't until I sat down and tried to write about myself that I couldn't ignore it anymore. Here's what I came up with, but I will continue to pray about how I use each of these outlets. Facebook is staying, I would miss keeping up with my friends and family. It's the easiest way to know when my sons practice is cancelled, when someone needs prayer, or when the next girl's night will be. Twitter is going. Blogger is staying, with a few changes. No more Wednesday weigh ins, no more posts all about me. (If you want to know all about me, let's hang out, talk, do something!) The blog will be about what I intended for it to be about all along. Jesus. The journey of learning to love like Jesus has called us to love. The blog all got started because of this post, this book.  Jesus does some great things in my life, helps me through many trials and so much more, I will be sharing all of this with you if you choose to read. But my life isn't about me, and neither should anything else be. It seems dramatic to me, but it's the truth. I gave my life to Christ, it's all His, or that's how it's suppose to work at least. Will I use personal stories to share what God is doing, you bet I will! But I desire to try to take any focus off myself and give all the glory to God, where it belongs.

"Whatever you do in word and deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Colossians 3:17

(After proof reading this post I feel it very important to add here that if you think this post is directed at you, you should know that you were not who I was thinking about when I wrote this post. But if you really feel like it is directed at you, maybe it is because it is something you are struggling with as well? I however had no one in mind but myself as I wrote this post about not posting about myself... see the irony, I do)