The Proverbs 31 Woman and Social Media

"She is clothed in strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue."

           -Proverbs 31:25-26

If you're a woman, you've read or heard this verse before.


It's plastered on motivational posters at women's conferences.
It's written on our prayer journals.
It's the caption of your Facebook photo.
You hang it around your neck and buy t-shirts with it drawn in a fancy feminine script on the front.


It's easy to wear.
It's simple to read.
But, is it as simple to understand and to LIVE out loud?


I know, I know, parts of the verse don't seem to apply to us anymore in 2014.
Nobody "dresses her family in scarlet" anymore.
But, I believe there is still a real, relevant message contained within this snippet of scripture that we can apply to a modern part of life.


Social media.


It's great to strive to achieve proverbs 31 status by respecting your spouse, loving your children and providing a nurturing/hard-working presence within the walls of your own home.
But, are we neglecting one of the largest influences that we have on others as Christian women?


Let's break a part the snapshot of the verse above and ask ourselves individually if we are truly living out the Proverbs 31 identity in the cyber world as well as our living rooms.
First, let me say a quick prayer for myself before digging deep into my own heart and possibly finding things I don't want to see. YIKES!


"Jesus, pry open my heart and my eyes to what breaks You. Where in my thoughts, my heart, my relationships, my interactions on the internet and in person can there be a better reflection of You and not Britney? Show me the things I don't see, even the ugly, fleshly things. Help me recognize my short-comings and instill wisdom in me. Amen."

Now, let's do this thang.


"She is clothed in strength and dignity..."


First question: What clothes are you wearing on social media?


Is it strength and dignity? Or is it negativity, self-pity, low self-esteem, bitterness, busy-ness, unforgiveness or gossip?


Strength here is not referring to an overpowering woman. To me, it can be the strength to restrain from lashing out, strength to take pain and use it for her own betterment. Strength to use wisdom and remain in silence instead of using her words as a weapon.


Are you clothed in wisdom? Or are you clothed in pettiness?


Are you clothed in dignity?
Or are you standing there on social media, totally stripped naked of all the beautiful garments a lady in Christ would wear?


When you update the world, are you clothed in all things good; grace, mercy, love, compassion, patience, wisdom & truth?


Or are you clothed in all things fleshly?
Before word vomiting all over everyone's newsfeed, I should be asking myself:

"Are you wearing what Britney would pick out to wear today? Or are you going to let Christ lay out your wardrobe for you?"

As for me, I want to hit my knees before hitting the post button.
I guarantee once praying about whatever issue I am about to blast on social media, I will no longer feel the need to post it any longer.


Honestly, airing my dirty laundry is stinky.
It stinks and nobody wants to smell it.

 "...She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue."

Second question: What is on your tongue? 

Obviously, we are all human here.
We make mistakes.
We let our tongues flap wildly more than they should.
This is why God has laid all of this onto my heart.

What is on my tongue?
Honestly, a lot of the time things that I am not proud of.

I'll tell you something, it's not always "faithful instruction".
I'll tell you something else, I'm not always speaking with wisdom!

But, I strive to do both of these.
Especially on social media, as lately this has been my focus.

Did you know your Facebook page, your Instagram or even your twitter feed could be a testimony? 
Even a witness? 
A light? 

Your thoughts are reaching hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, ladies.

You have the opportunity to say so much to someone who is hurting, lost or just seeking someone full of hope, help and positivity with the click of a button.

Unfortunately, you also have the opportunity to destroy, to hurt, to break, to wound, to slander, to gossip...also with a click of the button.

How you use social media is in your hands and though you aren't using your actual tongue, the same principal still applies.
The tongue (in this case your fingers) has the power to destroy or to build up, to degrade or to encourage. 

Proverbs 18:21 - Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

So, what's on your tongue on social media?
Just because the words do not ever pass your lips, does not mean they do not have extreme power. 

Life is not always grand, but are you approaching your hurt with the Cross in mind or something else?

You do not have to pretend everything and everyone in this journey is always okay, but you do have to answer to how you reacted along the way. 

Matthew 12:36-37 

"I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

I desire to speak with wisdom on social media. 
I desire to NOT speak with wisdom on social media if need be.

I desire to have delightful things on my tongue; faithful instruction, encouragement, hope, grace.

The tongue is a double-edged sword and I choose to lay it down and to stop using it as a weapon of destruction.

I pray that Christ is the first we approach when we have something to say, not our status'; whether that be a story of success or one of pain.

I know I have a lot of heart-searching to do and personally need to ask God where I stand with Him on social media.

I long to be the Proverbs 31 woman not just to my family, but all who are touched by the consequences of my reactions.

Lastly, replace words in verses about controlling the "tongue" or your "lips" and replace it with the word "thumb," for social media.


"When there are many words, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his thumbs is wise."-Proverbs 10:19

Silly exercise, but a whole lotta truth.

"Jesus, help me reflect You in every form that I may take on, in the home or on the internet. Help my ears be open to Your voice and my heart open to Your guidance. Help me be more about promoting You on social media, not promoting myself or demoting others. Amen."

End of Semester: Why I Write Part Two.

We were asked to re-write an assignment we did in the first week of class to note how we have changed, titled : Why I Write.
Enjoy.

Britney Davis

Ms. Jones

November 11, 2014

           

                                                            Why I Write

Why do I write? I often write to cling to the things that I feel are slipping through my grasp. So many things leave and when they do they leave with such haste we never have the time to really taste them for what they are. Writing allows me to catch a moment, a person, a feeling of bewitching or distain and to capture it just long enough to feel it for all it can be. I like to dance in the meadow of this short life, the dusk of death hastily approaching, letting my limbs flail around in the night air just to catch one firefly of a moment. Once I catch it, I write it. I put the jar up to my face and study my captive. I memorize every morsel of it’s existence, regurgitate it and then I set it free. What a shame it would be to catch such a fleeting, beautiful thing and not allow myself the chance to understand it.

I write so that I never forget the things he said to me in that white-walled, fluorescent-lit room. I write so that I never forget that day where we stood in the rain, my hand lingering in that handshake longer than it should. I write so that I never forget the brown chair; the one she sung over me in, her blue silk nightgown rocking me into slumber. I write so that I never forget how the sunlight hit my sister’s face, forming so many different shapes and objects onto her freckles beneath our fortress of leaves many falls ago. I write so that I may never forget the lessons that I learned through the laughter of a six year old, his front right tooth crowning the gums.

I write so that I might not forget how it felt to ride on his shoulders, baseball stadium lights revealing half of his features while cloud lightning highlighted the rest. I write so that I might not forget what it is to hear your own heart break and what it is to see it quilted back together with the thread from another. I write so that I might not forget the little things, the seemingly insignificant things like eyebrow stitches and red cowgirl boots. I write so that I might not forget the feeling of dancing to Billy Joel with my grandmother or riding in my grandfather’s blue pickup truck down a flat Oklahoma road.

I write to discover the woman I am through the memories of a girl I thought I knew. Sometimes I do not know what I think about the world until I have written about it. Sometimes I think I know who I am until I write, then I discover a new nook in my soul that I had not stumbled upon before. Writing is a like a flashlight in the unknown of my own psyche. It is always guiding me, re-directing my feet and showing me new corners and crevices of my own mind that I have neglected or forgotten was there.

Writing is all about capturing the precious things that could be lost or forgotten. My heart has fallen madly in love with the beauty of memoir. What greater way to re-live every beautiful, wild, painful, shameful, regretful, magnificent, take-your-breath away moment than to learn the art of writing a memoir. The memoir is the capturing of many fireflies. It is learning lessons from their hypnotizing glow and then letting them go back to whatever magical place it is that fireflies sleep. The memoir allows you to share your treasures and all of your dark places that hurt you, yet taught you the most about living, romance and simplicity. I write because it is the ultimate mentor, the most qualified of educators and the greatest lover a mind could take.