That One Statement

The other day, I had the pleasure of going to coffee with a friend from high school and jr. high. Like any friendship, ours had, at more than one point in time, suffered a hiccup or two. But, while catching up over a warm cup of coffee, she made a statement that, while simple, caught me off guard. She simply said "You know, I'm really glad we had that group of friends in high school and middle school. We kind of saved each other." Now, to anyone in the coffee shop observing (*cough chough* eavesdropping), that was indeed a very simple statement and actually very normal for two college age girls to say while catching up. But, it triggered this thought process in me. First, it made me look back at our friendship; the good, the bad, the goofy, and even the ugly. She was right. The four of us girls that did everything together for all those years, we all saved each other. We saved each other from the pressure to party, smoke, drink, do drugs, or mess around with guys. You're probably scratching your head right now saying "How?" The answer is simple. Because the four of us had a connection, a bond, and had all somehow come to some unspoken agreement that the whole "bad girl" thing wasn't for us, we experienced the all too rare positive peer pressure. Within our closest friends there was the pressure to stay away from harmful behaviors and addictive substances.
The next thing this made me look at is the younger generation and their friendships. Sure, these girls have their "BFF's" and their "homies" or whatever term it is that they are using right now. But the difference between the quality of their friendships and the quality of the friendships I had is astonishing. You know the main difference I see? Cell phones. These kids don't develop REAL social skills. Sure, they can "communicate" their feelings via Facebook and Twitter. They can easily become "instafamous" by repetitively using the hashtag #FollowMe or #TeamFollowBack, etc. But in all honesty, these kids have lost the art of face-to-face communication. Don't get me wrong or twist my words into me saying that cell phones are the root of all evil, because that's NOT what I'm saying. Cell phones have many great uses and come in handy EXTREMELY often. But, we rely too heavily on them. Cell phones are not an attachment to our hand. They aren't a continuation of our arm. Facebook is NOT a diary. Twitter is NOT your shrink. Texting isn't the ONLY way to talk to someone. Did you know that phones still make calls? Because it sure doesn't seem like many people know they do.
This train of thought, of course, led me to start thinking about what would happen if each of us put down our cell phones for even just a half hour every day and started talking to other people. What if, for 30 minutes out of every 24 hours, you turned your phone off and used your voice? What if all of us put our phones away during meals and while holding a conversation with someone else? Don't you think the quality of our friendships would improve? That this generation of kids would have some kind of social ability? Or, what if we put our phones down for an hour, and not only talked to someone else, but actually went outside? I have a friend that I enjoy taking walks with. The two of us will set out on a "short" walk, start chatting, and get so completely lost in the conversation that we don't feel the need to be texting or using Facebook or checking Instagram. We don't feel like we need to Tweet that we are on a walk (I mean, honestly, who really cares?). Most of the time these "short" walks will end up lasting for two, three, four hours. And we don't even notice.
As I thought more about this shutting off our phones thing, I started thinking, what if we spent as much time in prayer or reading our Bibles as we do on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram. We could completely improve the quality of our lives if we would just shut off the computer or the phone for even just an hour each night and spent that time seeking Christ as earnestly as a teenage girl searches Facebook for that hot guy in her Biology class. If we gave Christ even half the effort we put into Facebook stalking other people, our lives would become so abundantly rich. And yet, we can't seem to part from the little box that puts the whole world at our fingertips. My question is, WHY?? Why on Earth would we hold onto something that connects us to the entire world when simply shutting it off and sending a little prayer to Heaven connects us to the very being who created the ENTIRE UNIVERSE. I mean, how does that even make sense? And where do we get the authority to put God in the background anyway? How many times in even just the past week have you said "Ok, God, just hang on one second while I finish this phone call/this e-mail/this text message/this Facebook post?" Since when is social media more important to us than the God of the universe? The God who sent his son to die for us? The God who loves us so much that he spared us the torment of Hell by allowing his ONLY son to be tortured to death on a cross for each and every one of us individually. We are such an arrogant generation. When did we as mere human beings gain the right to push God to the side? He tirelessly and relentlessly seeks us day in, day out. And we sit on our high horses, with our little iPhones attached to our hands saying "Nah, you can wait, God, Facebook is more important." And, yet, none of us seem to notice. We are so blessed and God gives us such comfort and we take such advantage of that. We complain because we can't have the newest, most expensive clothes so that makes us "poor." We get angry because our friends just got the new iPhone 5 and we are still stuck with the 4S. Is the cute guy you just got a number from REALLY more flattering than the fact that the creator of the universe loves us and wants to pursue us? I highly doubt that the boy from Geometry is really that spectacular. Yes, I can completely understand wanting to find Prince Charming and be whisked away into a romantic fairy tale romance. Hey, I can even understand just wanting at least one guy to just give you a second glance. I've been there. It's a tough spot. Until you start to think about the irony of that. God, the savior of the world, creator of the Universe loves you, wants you, and thinks you are amazingly beautiful. Yet, we are passing that up in hopes of a text with a ":)" from some guy. WHY?
All in all, I have one main point to make from all of this. Today's society needs to get their priorities straight. God needs to come first in our lives. Family and friends need to come second. And social media/cell phones need to come way in last place. Facebook is NOT that important.
Til Next Time,
CrazyGirl♥
P.S. Thanks to the person who spurred this whole thing. You know who you are.