It's hard to believe that it was only almost nine years ago when Facebook burst onto the scene and forever changed the social networking landscape of the world. People share so many aspects of their lives on the site ... some superficial and somewhat meaningless aspects such as what they eat for breakfast or photos of a new pair of jeans they bought , and some more intimate such as job losses or serious health issues for which they are requesting prayer. Though it was only around nine years ago that Facebook became part of many of our lives, in many ways, it seems as though it's been around forever. In fact, many of our children and grandchildren have no concept of society without Facebook ... it's one of the digital methods they employ to stay in contact with one another and keep up with what's going on in the lives of their families and friends.
I remember dragging my feet on joining the giant social networking beast, and it was only after my son Brad hounded me for a few months about the benefit the site could provide in regard to my speaking ministry or in sharing my blog that I finally caved in and joined the masses. It didn't take me long to get hooked on reading all the updates that my family and friends were posting, and I especially enjoyed reconnecting with old friends I grew up with back in Tennessee. For a long time, I joined in the posting frenzy and offered up my own details of daily life interspersed with what I at least considered to be tidbits of wisdom and doses of humor. As is true with so many things in my life, however, over the last couple of years, I stopped most of my Facebook communication and only posted the link to my blog whenever I had penned a new post. And now I have a confession to make ... though I stopped posting my own comments, I continued to read the posts of my friends. Yep, I went from being an active participant in sharing my life to simply reading about the lives of others ... I became what my young friends at work call "a Facebook stalker" ... I kept tabs on my family and friends, but I didn't interact with them unless there was a major event going on in their lives.
Last week, one of my younger friends on Facebook posted a quote from Dr. Seuss ... a quote my oldest son had mentioned to me the evening I had that most difficult conversation with him and his brother ... a quote that now hangs in my cubicle at work ... a quote that I read and think about every single day. "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." There is so much truth packed into those words, friends ... so very much deep, deep, deep truth. So many of us spend our entire lives trying to be someone we aren't and stay silent about what we feel. We desperately try to squeeze ourselves into the molds we are told we should fit into, and we bury our true inner feelings under layers of fear ... the fear of judgment, the fear of rejection, the fear of condemnation, even the fear of being left alone.
For the past few days, I've been thinking even more about the words of Dr. Seuss since I read them on my young friend's Facebook status. And I've been thinking about two of the words in particular ... "matter" and "mind." I can't help but acknowledge that I've spent so very much of my life being more concerned about the people who mind rather than the people who matter ... so much wasted time worrying about those who don't matter rather than embracing those who don't mind. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that God has been trying to teach me an enormous lesson through the words of Dr. Seuss since the night my son spoke them to me. When we cut through all the "stuff" of life ... all the stuff that defines us to one another ... the only thing that really matters is love ... God's love for us and our love for each other. Love is where everything should begin, friends, and love is where everything should end. We shouldn't begin or end with anything other than love ... not fear, not judgment, not loneliness, not rejection ... love is where everything should begin, and love is where everything should end.
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -- Dr. Seuss
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