Disclaimer:
I know that this blog post will defeat it’s purpose but maybe it can help us
all take a second and think of what and why we share things with the world.
Christmas
is over, decorations are stowed away in the attic or basement again. Christmas
playlists are muted and there is way too much candy left for my sanity.
But there
is one thing that still lingers in my mind, a scripture, and it has been there
during this whole Christmas season. Let me set it up for you:
As the shepherds
told Mary and other people of what they had seen and heard, it was made known
abroad (as it should be) and people wondered at the things they heard, and here
it comes:
”But Mary
kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.”
- Luke 2: 19
I think
this scripture can be a good reminder in today’s world of social media. Yes,
certain things could and perhaps should be shared. But some things are better
kept pondered in our hearts.
I can think of
several reasons for keeping things to ourselves. Here are two:
Sometimes
I think we share things because we want to portray a perfect life. We want
people to think we are successful, healthy, rich, strong, adventurous or even
spiritual. But what is really the purpose? How is this helping? I think we
should all think before we share something why we share it and what effect it
might have on the receiver and in turn I think we will keep things to ourselves
more, maybe even learn to be in the moment rather having to document it.
My
absolute favourite movie at the moment is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. At
one point in the movie he meets a photographer Sean O’Connell in the Himalayas
who is there to photograph the snow leopard. The snow leopard appears and Sean
and Walter sees it through the camera lens but Sean never takes the picture and
explains that when he likes the moment for himself he doesn’t take it, taking
the picture takes away from the moment, and in that way he can keep it to
himself (another disclaimer: I am not saying not to take pictures, I am only
saying to stay in the moment). Along with this is my favourite quote in the
movie:
“Beautiful things don’t ask for attention”
Reason
number two for keeping things to ourselves is that some things are God’s gift
to you, just you, and it is sacred and I think we can learn to see it and
appreciate it more if we log out more often from the digital world. If we are
too eager to share something good that happened we perhaps miss an opportunity
to ponder it in our hearts and learn even more from it. Again, we should share
goodness, but that does not mean we should share all. Mary did share goodness,
her son, with the rest of the world. But some things she only shared at the
right place at the right time.
I am not trying to tell people what to do, but
this has been something I have been thinking of and I felt right about sharing
it only because it has helped me to put away my phone, not to bother too much
about taking pictures but rather see the people I am with. At moments when I
have thought about sharing things I have thought about why and sometimes I have
shared and sometimes I have decided not to. I guess what I am trying to say is
to do what Mary did, keep things, and ponder them in your heart before you
decide to share it, I am trying to learn to do it and I feel like I appreciate
and learn more by doing so.
Having said all this, I highly recommend to write a journal. That way you treasure up the things you have experienced and it can be a source of reminder and strength for you and generations to come.
