oh, the perils of social networking!

one of the things about social networking that i dislike and am wary of is misrepresentation.

i've come to see that, on the internet, we are free to put forth our "best" face, thoughts, opinions, whatever, for the general public to see. Because of the overall impersonal nature of the online world (facebook, twitter, blogger..etc.), we can be who we want others to perceive us as, and alter our appearances accordingly. we can be more friendly and personable, wear our best outfits in the pictures we post, post Bible verse after Bible verse (or john piper quote after john piper quote) because we know that it's a basically unadulterated version of ourselves. someone goes to your facebook and they see your picture-- one that you picked out, and it flatters you. they see the slew of people sharing love and saying "hi" and telling you how amazing you are because they miss you. they see your music section (where, of course, you post only the coolest music that you want people to know you listen to), and all of your interests that make you, well, interesting. but what they don't see is the fact that you're stubborn, or not truly pursuing the Lord in your personal life, or that you're the world's largest procrastinator. they don't see that you idolize your relationship with your significant other, that you are knee-deep in a serious sin struggle, or that you don't actually look like you walked out of an anthropologie catalog 24/7.

i do not want to be that. it's so easy to (knowingly or unknowingly) put the message across that life is "perfect"-- that your marriage is dream-like, that you are walking a walk with Christ that never falters and are some sort of spiritual powerhouse, that you don't struggle with sin, or that you don't have down days (or weeks). Not that it probably isn't at times, that's not what i'm saying. i'm in no way trying to be cynical, but what i want to say is... what about when it's not like that?

i guess this is just a reminder to myself and the few people who actually read this that i...we... are striving for authenticity, because it's conducive to Truth and real community. so i will keep this in mind as i'm tempted to blog through the good times and not the hard.

picture found via paper tissue.

grace and peace,
the wife.