Social Media Musings... page 8
Just stuff, posted from time to time, not necessarily in any chronological or topical order, but fitting with the general theme of this website.
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#GiveThanks
Facebook & Twitter, November 20, 2020
On November 20, 2020, President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, requested that Latter-day Saints worldwide use their social media accounts as personal gratitude journals for seven days. Over the next several pages are my contributions.
Day 1.
Today, the man that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints view as a prophet recommended that the next seven days we use social media as a personal #gratitude journal. It will be interesting to see how many do that, and just how much it changes the tone of social media. Most of them will include the proposed hashtag, #givethanks. There are over 608,000 posts with that hashtag already (maybe not all of them from Latter-day Saints).
Of course, the goal is likely not to transform social media, but to transform us, to improve us as individuals, to help us be people who strive to see the brighter side of things. and who feel genuine gratitude for the many good things that are in our lives.
I am grateful for that suggestion. I do spend a fair bit of time feeling thankful for the good things in my life, and even thankful for some of the bad ones. Almost anything bad is just the flipside of an opportunity to experience something better. But I don't always or often express that gratitude to others. It fills me in momentary flashes every day -- with each pleasant breeze or positive social interaction, with each meal, walking in my neighbourhood, talking with my wife -- but I often just keep that between me and God. So I admit that this effort, right now, feels contrived. I don't need you to know my thankfulness in order for me to feel it. But let me start anyway, because the man I regard as God's prophet asked us to.
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Thank you, God, for parents who raised me to know you; not just to believe in you, but to want and strive to know you. Thank you for my father's agnosticism, that never let me treat questions of faith as "given". Thank you for my mother's innocent and joyful belief in you, which never let me find you as fearful or far away.
Thank you for the blessing of a wife with whom I can share my faith fully, and through and by whom that faith is regularly strengthened, as I witness and appreciate her faith.
Not everyone in my family is deeply faithful. Nor are many of my friends. But I am grateful for those who have found reasons for faith in their lives, and for all those others who, even without it, nevertheless strive to be thoughtful and courageous people of genuine compassion and kindness.
If these were the only things to be thankful for in my life, I would find myself blessed indeed.
Today, the man that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints view as a prophet recommended that the next seven days we use social media as a personal #gratitude journal. It will be interesting to see how many do that, and just how much it changes the tone of social media. Most of them will include the proposed hashtag, #givethanks. There are over 608,000 posts with that hashtag already (maybe not all of them from Latter-day Saints).
Of course, the goal is likely not to transform social media, but to transform us, to improve us as individuals, to help us be people who strive to see the brighter side of things. and who feel genuine gratitude for the many good things that are in our lives.
I am grateful for that suggestion. I do spend a fair bit of time feeling thankful for the good things in my life, and even thankful for some of the bad ones. Almost anything bad is just the flipside of an opportunity to experience something better. But I don't always or often express that gratitude to others. It fills me in momentary flashes every day -- with each pleasant breeze or positive social interaction, with each meal, walking in my neighbourhood, talking with my wife -- but I often just keep that between me and God. So I admit that this effort, right now, feels contrived. I don't need you to know my thankfulness in order for me to feel it. But let me start anyway, because the man I regard as God's prophet asked us to.
******
Thank you, God, for parents who raised me to know you; not just to believe in you, but to want and strive to know you. Thank you for my father's agnosticism, that never let me treat questions of faith as "given". Thank you for my mother's innocent and joyful belief in you, which never let me find you as fearful or far away.
Thank you for the blessing of a wife with whom I can share my faith fully, and through and by whom that faith is regularly strengthened, as I witness and appreciate her faith.
Not everyone in my family is deeply faithful. Nor are many of my friends. But I am grateful for those who have found reasons for faith in their lives, and for all those others who, even without it, nevertheless strive to be thoughtful and courageous people of genuine compassion and kindness.
If these were the only things to be thankful for in my life, I would find myself blessed indeed.