Humble.

The subject of humility appears more than 31 times in the bible.

Walk humbly

Humble yourself

Be humble in spirit

HE gives GRACE to the humble

Just to name a few.

But right now, in 2017, doesn’t it seem like a foreign concept?

We are a society that is begging for more, competing to be the best/fastest/strongest/smartest/toughest, hustling the hardest, earning the most money , desperate to find what our identity on earth really is. Social media is a perfect example of everyone just shouting to be heard and seen. We are told to be BOLD and CONFIDENT which coincidently are the exact opposites of humility.

I took a leap at the beginning of the year and started a public instagram account. The idea was to join in on fun contests in the photography community, running world, pick up some new plant-based recipes, etc. and to share in community with others with common interests. The idea of showing my photography clients a little behind the scenes sounded fun! It sounds ridiculous right?  Instagram was a new platform when my middle son was born 5.5 years ago! Daily it was used to share photos privately with friends and make them look “ vintage” and cool – insert all the eye rolls. A new PUBLIC social media account meant having posts totally exposed to anyone and everyone. Even more time consuming, to share your images in certain communities you have to learn specific hashtags to make yourself easily searchable. And while you’re at it, share instantly in “stories” so everyone can keep up hour to hour with EVERYONE they follow if they would like. Stories disappear after a day so why not? Why not share special moments with anyone who wants to see?

Let me tell you why I’m not… right now.

After 6 months connecting with new photographer friends, learning ALL the hashtags, communicating with clients, following different elite runners, even being spiritually fed by other Christian Mamas… God totally broke me down. There was an overwhelming feeling of ‘ what is the point in this and is it in any way glorifying God?’ Why are we so focused on building this online community of people when there are REAL LIFE people in front of us we are missing? What kind of real life community is scripted and edited ?  My neighbors,  friends,  family are the real community that needs invested in. People that you can hug, laugh with, cry with, do LIFE with, this is who we should be investing our precious time on. We as a society have become numb to the human beings around us and focused on the scripted ones on our phone screens. God didn’t create us as human beings to have a glass screen between our lives, we were given flesh to share real life with real people.

Earlier this summer I had a message from a young Mama telling me that she wishes she had the life I do. That it must be so nice to get to stay home, cook healthy meals, run whenever I want, and have such great kids. Talk about a convicting slap in the face! Without even realizing it I had totally scripted myself and smoothed out the rough edges. Based on my instagram stories and professionally edited photos I was giving off an image of my life that was 100%  false. Anyone that knows me in person would laugh at that because I am literally the hottest mess around town and totally own it! But there in-lies the problem… you DON’T know these people in person and if you do then their truth should be visible in daily life.   Photographers are begging for more followers and likes to reassure their talent . Runners are sharing race photos to boast about their accomplishments instead of encouraging others . Women are posting videos of their outfits EVERY single day just to hear how fantastic they look. Direct sales ladies 'go live' telling us why we need their hot new product.   I will be the first to admit I am completely guilty here on several accounts ! Public social media has slowly become a community of people just yelling to be heard. Can you really blame everyone in a world where listening is becoming a lost art? 

Now I am not here to bash on social media at all, sharing life through images and words over the Internet is something I truly treasure about technology today. You are reading this because of social media, HELLO! Being a military family means that our loved ones are scattered across the globe and sharing back and forth with them on facebook and instagram is one of the greatest blessings of my week. But a line has to be drawn for myself personally and maybe I'm not alone here. If I am taking 30 minutes a day to post photos on instagram for strangers to ‘ like’  maybe I can use those 30 minutes to reach out to a neighbor instead. Perhaps those 30 minutes could be shared in conversation with a tired friend that just wants conversation not involving typing on a smartphone. Instead of focusing on building a brand or identity for others to view us as, what if  we turned our focus on the only identity that will unfailingly last for eternity- our title as a child of the most high king and creator of the universe. THAT is the identity that takes no proving or shouting because it is an identity that is graced upon all of us whether we have accepted it or not.

I’m not saying I am done on certain platforms I just personally need to heal my heart and do it for the right reasons . My hope and prayer is that as this next season unfolds personally I can write more from the heart and humbly share truth instead of the highlight real. I want others to realize they are not alone and that we ARE listening, and if you don’t have someone to listen the God of the universe is always with you and he is kind of the best listener . He created you perfectly in his image and hears your cries and your laughter , through your good days and bad. No amount of instagram ‘likes’ Or facebook ‘shares’ will build an untouchable identity like the one we already have as a Believer in Jesus Christ. 

In Psalm 25 David cries out- HE leads the HUMBLE in doing right, teaching them his way. The lord leads with unfailing Love and faithfulness.

Who doesn't want to be led with Love ? 

Be humble. Be kind. God loves YOU and that really truly is E N O U G H. 

- B