Marriage & Social Media

The sun rises and the alarm goes off. Of course, I don't hear it but my son, who was sleeping next to me, stirs. His movements in the bed wake me up and I hear my alarm. I roll over, shut off the noise, and take a deep breath. Another day I have been blessed.

I grab my cell phone from the nightstand and pick up my son. We walk out to the kitchen to join my Mom, who's usually talking on the phone to my step-dad, who's on the road because he's a truck driver. Placing my son in his high chair with his breakfast, I make my way to the coffee pot. (Another one of God's amazing blessings: COFFEE)

Once my cup of deliciousness is complete, I sit to enjoy it while scrolling through Facebook. I see small bits of the lives of those I care about and those I haven't ever met. I see several articles with the "click bait" headlines, which I try not to click on. However, curiosity gets to me and I read the article. Most of the time these articles are usually centered around Jesus. However, some of them are of relationships, marriage, and romance. I try to stay away from any misleading marriage articles because I'm striving to follow the best advice one could get about marriage: the Bible. Now don't get me wrong. I also like to look up to those who have been married for the long haul, those that have the kind of marriage I pray to have when I'm older.

At times, I tend to watch the older couples in church and think that their marriage is sweet because you hardly see a marriage lasting that long. If it's more than five or so years, I tend to be in awe these days. I try to push myself away from "judging or coveting" the marriages I see on social media. I tend to feel that, at times, the polish was taken to the post and only the good times are shared. A lot of the time, we don't see the negative that happens within the marriage.  The shield normally covers the marriage and the transparency isn't available. These people only want you to see what they feel will get them some kind of attention. Now, don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with showing your love to your spouse online. I do this myself, quite often actually. I'm talking about the "perfect" family, marriage, and life posts.

We're not here to allow the world to impact our marriage. We want our marriage to impact the world. Thus meaning that the outside view of marriage shouldn't ever be used to shape your marriage. Your marriage (biblically) should want to impact the world around you. How do you do this without crossing the line of the "perfect" life posts? Easy.

Continue to live life with Christ at the core. Focus all your energy on Jesus and allow Him to do the talking. He'll take control and whisper to the hearts of those around you.