“Just imagine what would happen if we were as intent on staying connected with heaven as we are on staying connected to Wi-Fi! Pick a time and place, and listen for God’s voice every day. And keep this sacred appointment with exactness, for so very much depends on it!”
Sister Michelle Craig, “Spiritual Capacity”, General Conference, October 2019
I know this quote is more about being connected to a spiritual network but as I read this, my mind went to social media. I’ve never been one for social media. I have some accounts, but I only created them to be close to my kids. But I understand the influence that social media has on a person. It can be good, but, like anything, it can rule a life if we let it.
Many times, we all place value on ourselves by the number of friends or followers we have on an account. I’ve done exactly that. I use LinkedIn mostly and I remember thinking that with only a couple hundred “friends”, my reputation out there in the “interwebs” (😝) isn’t very strong…I need more. But, over time, and most likely because of the physical challenges I now have, my priorities have shifted, and I’ve since realized that having a good relationship with one someone “real” is far more important than having a superficial or even fake relationship with hundreds of online someones.
Having said that, the absolutely most important someone with whom I need a relationship with is my Heavenly Father. Like online friends, I can’t see Him face to face (but I know He’s real). But unlike online friends, He is not superficial or fake or only interested in me because I portray an appearance of “hey, look at me, I’m a good person”. He won’t deceive or be deceived. Satan will deceive….and does. Satan wants us to think that he’s not so bad. When deep down, he’s not good, at all. If I am not careful, I fall into doing the same thing. I want others to think I am a better person than I really am (although I like to think I’m not bad or evil by any means)…instead of actually working and improving to be the kind of person I pretend to be. I hope that makes sense. I’m not saying that I am a bad person, but I tend to put my focus on the appearance instead of the character. I still catch myself doing it.
The only “friend” that we should want to have look at us approvingly is Heavenly Father. The only difference between Him and online friends is that He knows when we are showing real character and when we are showing merely an appearance of having character.
So, let’s work on staying connected with Him. Let’s pray each and every day and tell Him about how it’s going. Because He actually cares. He doesn’t pretend to. He’ll never get tired of hearing about the miniscule, minute details of our lives. He already knows them all (even if we forget), but He wants that relationship and we should too.