Should I Post This?

It’s the 21st century and let’s be real, almost everything is online. The world is evolving. Things are changing. Slowly we are becoming the era of technology.

We live in a generation that is consumed with social media. Within the past three years, I feel as though the pressure to perform for media outlets has extremely gotten worse. People are running to Facebook to get validation on their midlife crises. On Instagram, we are living for the aesthetic. We spend so much time trying to get the perfect angles for a perfect reel.

It’s draining! And then after all that, we still find room to compare.

This deceives our mind into not only thinking we aren’t good enough, but that others are living the “better life” because you saw their Instagram story. You don’t know what goes on behind the screen. Even comparing your image. Be proud of your story and the way you look. God didn’t make any mistakes regarding your height, the color of your eyes, or the tone of your skin. We need to slowly start learning how to self-discipline, to stop comparing, to start looking in the mirror and see ourselves the way that Our Father does.

There’s a quote I love that says, “Instagram isn’t real.” Yes, THINK ABOUT THAT. I got to the point where I felt like Instagram was influencing a lot in my life. I had to ask myself “Who am I?” I didn’t want Instagram telling me what clothes I should wear or how little I felt in life compared to others.

Another thing I wanted to tell you, that I had to tell myself too. Don’t be envious of the one that’s traveling because traveling is “in” right now. I’m so tired of society trying to determine the definition of me and the things that I should or shouldn’t take interest in. I actually hate traveling, but social media is over here telling me that I should like it. LIKE NO. I’m ready to flourish in all my dislikes and no longer feel bad about it and for you I know sometimes it can get hard and you feel like you don’t fit in because you’re set apart, but that’s ok. It’s time to let go of all of those opinions that are weighing you down.

I was driving the other day and a lot of times when I’m driving or sitting at a red light, God will just give me glimpses and words. He knew I was struggling, and I heard “if I waste time thinking about performing for everyone else. I’m going to neglect who I am to myself and to all the other people who need me present for them today.”

That hit me hard. It got me thinking a little bit more.

These external things don't touch the heart space within people. Just because you see a person one way behind the screen, doesn’t really mean that is how they’re living/feeling. These things only comfort you temporarily. At the end of the day the only thing that matters is what is going on in your heart and if your heart isn’t good… your mind definitely isn’t going to be.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” — ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭4‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The things you are stressing over are still going to linger. That relationship that you need to invest in is still going to be there, even after your three-hour screen time scrolling through TikTok videos. Even me, working a job that takes up so much of my time. It’s so easy for me to work because I actually really like my job and I make exceptional money, but I’m starting to realize that I’m neglecting other areas in my life. Sometimes, I’m too burnt out on my days off to go out and spend that extra time with loved ones and by the time I get off, it’s too late to do anything.

Your connection to others will not be you looking down at a phone screen. It will be you stepping out in the things that you’ve dreamed of doing, but you’re afraid of doing. It will be the little girl you’re sponsoring because she lives in a country of poverty. It will be you investing more time in your dearest relationships. It will be you showing God’s love to strangers.

A few weeks after I began writing this, I went to a Maverick City concert. At the concert, a gentleman began to speak. Out of the fifteen minutes he spoke. The three words he said that I left and held onto was “People are treasure.”

God had an appointed time. PEOPLE ARE TREASURE. Don’t confuse real treasure with counterfeit treasure. Don’t kill yourself following a treasure map that is only going to lead to loss. The real prize is Jesus, and the real treasure is you.

“Jesus answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” — ‭‭John‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭KJV‬‬