Today's thought:
Matthew 10:29-31, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
Explaining why he doesn't Twitter, author and editor Skye Jethani writes:
I know I'll get grief for this, but in the 2004 film Shall We Dance?, one character had a really insightful bit of dialogue: "We need a witness to our lives. There are a billion people on the planet … I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things … all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying, "Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness."
We all want our lives to matter, and we believe they only matter if they are noticed by someone. I wonder if this desire for a witness isn't what fuels a lot of blogs, Facebook, and especially Twitter. We want someone, anyone, to take notice, to care about us, to watch us and by their attention communicate, "You matter. Your life counts."
If this is one of the hidden motivations behind Twittering, and I think it is, we're really talking about a spiritual hunger—one that I don't believe can be satisfied online. Perhaps the most significant reason I don't Twitter is because I already have a witness for my life. Psalm 139 says it best: "O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD."
I believe in God's economy there is not a single thought, feeling, or moment that is lost. There is nothing that is unseen or unrecorded. God is indeed with me and witnessing every thought and reflection. My ideas are not lost, and my life really does matter—not because someone read it, heard it, saw it, or Tweeted it, but because God is my witness.
Prayer: Our Father, you know us completely. There is nothing about me too insignificant or mundane as to escape Your attention. You are our Witness. Thank You that I am known, cared for and loved by the One who never forgets. We bask in Your attention and revel in the knowledge that because You turned Your back on Your Son on the cross You will never turn Your back on us. In Jesus, amen.