Meltdown...

I've had a really unique experience this week and I just have to share. You see over the last several months I've enjoyed connecting and reconnecting with several of my high school classmates on Facebook. It has been fun and exciting to see how very different everyone has become. It has been nearly 18 years since I've spoken to many of them. So this "new" technology helps us communicate even when we don't see each other.

In many ways it has been fascinating but in other ways it has been very discouraging. Almost to the point of meltdown. You see a friend posted a seemingly innocuous comment about "praying for VP debate" and this sparked a firestorm of messages. Some of our friends from high school hold very strong opinions on both religion and politics. And because this was the nexus for those two to intersect... boom.. we had meltdown. As the string of posts grew many felt the need to throw their hat in the ring and counter each other's statements and adding their opinion. As this string grows (even as you read this) and the attacks become more pointed, I started reflecting and praying... why is this happening? Why can't we seek unity?

Bingo... there was no attempt to understand each other.

We were only talking AT each other... not with each other. I'm as guilty as the others on the postings. Reflecting on it and some of the very hurtful things that were said, I realized that when engaged in confrontation I fall victim to thinking "if I only provide enough "right" answers to them, they will surely see my point of view." We'll that is certainly not the case. A meltdown happened. An acquaintance from high school (I can't technically call him a friend because though we knew of each other, we didn't really know each other in High School) was really insulted by some of the things I said when expressing my opinion. I'm deeply grieved by this. I never intended to cause this hurt or this pain. I got caught up in "providing enough right answers" that I forgot to seek to understand him and where he was coming from. I feel horrible and am seeking forgiveness from him as well as From the Lord for misrepresenting Him to others.

But in here is a lesson. We see it playing out in our political system today and all around us. We are becoming so entrenched in being right that we forget to find out where other people are. We don't seek to get to know them before we try to convert them. Facebook made it easy to assume I knew someone because I read their profile... but I never really talked to them or asked them any questions. And I can't expect to understand unless I take the time to get to know someone. Unity is not achieved by our "connections" or the number of "Friends" we have in Facebook. Unity is truly only achieved by way of relationship. We need to be people of relationships with each other... but more importantly we need to be people of relationships with our Heavenly Father!

I learned a lot this week. Please, dear Father, don't give up on me yet!