SpringCleaning! Social Me March 26
SpringCleaning!
March 26, 2021
Social Me
Galatians 5:25-26, ‘Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original (MSG).’
I paint pictures with words. I am a word nerd. It is a form of art. But there are those who can literally paint a picture. Draw a picture. Make a picture. I have always been fascinated by any kind of art no matter what art it is, whether writers or sculptors, singers or speakers. Even athletes can perform like poetry in motion. There are many forms of art. But I know very little about who I consider an actual artist, which means, I know little about reprints and originals. Like the Mona Lisa may hang on many walls but Leonardo only painted one original, and Thomas Kinkade has paintings in lots of homes worldwide but obviously didn’t paint each one by hand. I don’t know the art of reprints, but I know they exist.
Out of all the people in this world who are, who have been and who are to come, you are an original. He knit you together in your mother’s womb and there is no mistaking you. The world talks about clones but there is only one you. There is not a reprint of you hanging on His wall or any wall, nor is there a way to make a replica or a photocopy or a pseudo-you. In fact, it says in God’s Word, in Jeremiah 18, that God was forming us from clay and when He wasn’t pleased with the vessel He had formed, He started over again. Because He had a blueprint for you and for me. And He gives you every opportunity to be the best version of you always. You have a Potter, a Creator, that is insanely, extravagantly, crazy in love with you, but for so many we walk in the footsteps of someone, or everyone, else.
Mankind has a measuring stick today, called social media, and while you are SpringCleaning, it is wise for you to clean up your feeds and streams and threads. You have a Holy Word from God that is good for you to feast on. You have Living Water when your thirst has run dry, you have cool streams He will lie you down next to for rest, and some digs to pull on when it is important to make an appearance. Unfortunately, for so many though, we will weigh ourselves against another person we don’t even know on social media and gauge ourselves, like how did I come out, did I make the grade, do I get a pass of acceptance?
So I remember my childhood. My dad is quite a photographer. He had a wonderful camera and sent his film to be slow-cooked in a dark room. It took time and it cost money and you didn’t waste one picture taken. In other words, you didn’t snap, snap, snap. There was this fascinating detail about the transparency of the negative while allowed to develop under the chemicals and lack of light and, mostly, the process; what could be drawn out of the original snap. Isn’t that crazy that it really is a picture of true life, yet no one knows anymore because we snap pic after pic, delete and edit through every original that doesn’t make life look its very best. Perfection and plastic and pretend.
But you have one measuring stick to measure yourself against, and that is your Father’s measuring stick. Nothing else matters. Beautiful You, there is a solitary charcoal of you hanging in your Father’s House, an original, and any counterfeit replica has no value whatsoever. While you clean house today, take out any trash that doesn’t speak highly of your worth. He came for you and me too.
Come with me in March and let’s clean house!
If you are anything like me, you have kept some things around far too long and now they got to go! And with the Lord’s help, they can!
