Yesterday was a snow day. Called early. And yet by 3 pm we were blessed with a good amount of snow! I’ll be honest, I questioned the need to cancel, but after hearing of a nearby school district not canceling, I was grateful for the choice. There was an accident with buses. The roads were fine going in, but leaving in the afternoon was messy. Today, I look out upon snow, it’s lovely.
A day at home led to cleaning with help. My kids helped me put in drawer organizers in the kitchen and bathroom, clean out the refrigerator, shovel snow, and make dinner. We got so much done and I’m super grateful.
I think there are a lot of benefits to Facebook and such, but I struggle with comparison. I look at pictures and think how perfect life looks, but here’s what i know for sure. What we see in pictures is not the whole story. What we read in text is not the full story. You could read the above paragraph and think of comparing. Don’t.
Fight with me this tendency to look outward and only see what I’ve given you. The house looks a bit upended by all of our organizing and cleaning. I was in pain the whole time.
““Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.”
Matthew 7:15-20 HCSB
https://bible.com/bible/72/mat.7.15-20.HCSB
Jesus has finished the Beatitudes in verse 12 of chapter 7 and now he has warnings for us. Warnings for us to heed. I jumped us in the second of four warnings. My story earlier might be a little off as Facebook is not our teacher, but in a way, it is. We allow ourselves to be schooled by people we have never met. We share posts from people who’s background, theology and thoughts are carefully culled and winsomely pictured. what do we know of the figures who tell us what to think, how to think? How do we honestly know their fruit?
The community of friends we have on Facebook/Instagram, whatevs, gives us a picture but it is not the whole picture. You can tell me it’s community, but it’s no substitute for in person, face to face dialogue.
A business I follow on email mostly posted this:
Happy Friday! Consider this your semi-annual reminder from your friendly neighborhood TMD writers to make an effort to keep things civil in the comments section. We take a ton of pride in the quality of the discussions that happen there everyday, and we hope you do the same. Remember, there’s a human being on the receiving end of your words—and that human being is a fellow Dispatch member. Odds are they’re pretty cool.
https://thedispatch.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&chash=10a7cdd970fe135cf4f7bb55c0e3b59f.583&nosocial=1The DispatchThe Dispatch
I really can’t say it any better. How do we know the fruit? It seems easier to strike when you don’t see a face. We need to remember all the fighting, comparing, wondering we do while staring at our phone has a human being whose life is important.
I keep thinking these questions of Jesus are going to get easier. I would be wrong. Yet, I’m on the path that I know I will learn. I hope you will stay and join me.
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