Kirkepiscatoid

Uh...yeah...I pray my Facebook page.

I admitted that to a former student of mine yesterday, when he had sent me a message.

This former student had sent me an e-mail that he really liked my Facebook status updates. He said, "you've always been so honest and open." I had to laugh, because..oh...I'm sort of a "measured form of open" on my Facebook status. I am relatively careful not to offend, save the occasional four-letter outburst or flip statement. I know "everyone is watching." But he said it got him through some difficult times at this part of his life.

We talked a little about the power of social networking. It has the power to drive you further into the "me first/I'm so cool/me me me me" attitude that seems to pick up speed day by day in this world, OR...

...it has the power to force you to take you out of your selfish shell and live within a community.

I realized by his words, I had gravitated to the latter. One of the ways I have gravitated to the latter is I literally "pray my Facebook page."

I get up each morning, I work a little on the part of the Bible I'm working on, and think about it, pray about it, and then I check my Facebook page. I just simply read what's going on in all these people's lives. As I read them, I, oh, in a sense, "offer up what needs offering up." If someone is happy, I offer a short prayer of thanksgiving. If they have troubles, I offer prayers for their healing. If what they say meshes with me, I might even offer up something for my own spiritual growth.

I did not consciously start doing this. It just sort of happened. I realized a few weeks ago for the first time I was doing it. Then I suddenly got incredibly self-conscious about it. Then I let it go again and just let it happen. I had to come to the realization that I'm not going, "Oh, I will make sure I pray my Facebook page today." I had to accept this had just "become" me and this is not of my doing at all. It is from God, pure and simple. The easiest way to screw THAT up is for me to lay claim to it. So I handed it back and said, "Ok, this does not belong to me, God. You take care of it and I'll just go along with it."

It came up in the context with my former student b/c I was trying to explain to him that there is a place inside himself that is capable of doing so many self-healing things without "trying" to do them, and I encouraged him to "find those places." I told him one of the places I had discovered "it" was in looking at my Facebook page in the morning, and for him to simply be aware of where "his places" might be; then encourage him to spend time there.

Isn't it funny how when you explain something to someone else, sometimes you notice it for the first time yourself?