I love FaceBook. I love seeing what you're doing. I love being able to catch up and see pictures of old friends and their families and seeing what my own kids are up to.
Sometimes, I think we're losing a needed element of personal touch in our lives because of technology. Being the mom of small children can be lonely and isolating. Days of getting up in the morning only to repeat yesterday's work can discouraging.
A long time ago, I heard a story about a mom who broke her leg. Some of you may remember the story and know who it was - if so please share - it's information that has been lost in my noggin.
Anyways, the mother breaks her leg and the father who is a businessman steps up to the plate and takes over managing the house so she can recover. He said that managing the home was much more difficult and even depressing than running a company. Here's why: normally, he could get up in the morning, go to work and pick up where he left off the day before. At the end of the day, he could look at the work he had completed and feel a sense of accomplishment.
However, when it came to managing a home, he would get up in the morning and start the day from the same place that he started the previous day. The list of work was the same - put on a load of laundry, separate arguing children, talk to children about each other loving as Jesus loved them, make a meal, do the dishes, separate arguing children, talk to children about loving each other as Jesus loved them, change a diaper, change a diaper again, make another meal, clean up a broken jelly jar from the floor, do the dishes, separate arguing children, talk to children about loving each other as Jesus loved them, change a diaper, change a diaper again, oops - forgot to put on another load of laundry. . . etc. He would go to bed at night knowing that he would only start the next day not where he ended this one, but where he started the previous day. It all starts over - from the beginning.
When my children were small, I had friends that would go out to eat lunch together. We all had little ones. And when one or all of us would begin to feel lonely, isolated, or like we just might explode, we'd call each other and go to lunch. We could go to a kid friendly place where our kids could play or watch cartoons while we visited. Personal touch was encouraging and healing. We would leave feeling like life was good and we were up to the task.
Hmmm . . . makes me think about how God created us for relationship . . . to know Him . . . to have personal touch with Him. He even sent His Son in physical form - kinda personal, I think! And after Jesus' death and resurrection, He sent His Holy Spirit to inhabit us. We were made to need personal touch; and we were made to give personal touch, and we were made to need to give personal touch.
So, back to FaceBook. I wonder if FB, email, IM, chat, text, etc. give temporary relief for our hunger for personal touch. We feel relief because we have expressed our hearts but haven't had the healing touch of a physical hand reaching across to touch ours and express understanding, acceptance, and love.
Your own health falls inside of your own boundary. It's up to you to take care of what you need. I know - right now God is dealing with me about not taking care of myself.
So, all I'm saying is don't miss out on personal touch. If you don't have a network of friends, make one. Ask for God's help - He'll do that for you! If you already have a network of friends, don't settle for band-aid - go for real healing - the way God designed us.
