Social media, love it or hate it, is here to stay. Using social media, like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, is an excellent way of connecting with friends, family, and acquaintances or marketing businesses and products. Unfortunately, it can also trigger unnecessary emotions. Social media typically only chronicles the happy moments in one’s life, the achievements and accomplishments. You may scroll down your newsfeed any particular day and see little Joey’s high academic achievement, Ellen’s 50 pound weight loss transformation, or a family’s beautiful cruise to the Caribbean. And, how about those gourmet meals and meticulously staged homes!
Seeing these posts can cause feelings of envy and inadequacy. Actually, they can make you feel down right depressed. Normally, you couldn’t care less if tonight’s dinner was photo worthy. You were just happy that everyone in your house was fed. That is, until you compared it to the photos on Pinterest.
Comparison is a recipe for disaster. It stirs up emotions inside of us that make us think that we need to measure up to some ridiculous standard. This, in turn, fuels competition. God has called us women to support each other and bring out the best in one another, not to compete with one another.
Women competing with each other is not a new concept. Take a look at Rachel and Leah in the book of Genesis. They were sisters who married the same man, Jacob. Talk about awkward! Jacob loved Rachel more, and Leah knew it. But, Rachel was barren. In an effort to feel loved, Leah kept popping babies out like it was a sport. They were constantly competing for attention and affection. Thank God this was before the days of Facebook. Could you imagine those posts?
“The strategy of the enemy is to get women to compete and tear each other down. God’s plan is for us to lean in to each other’s strengths.” – Christine Caine
Although social media is not the only thing that triggers competition in women, it certainly is a major one. With that said, we need to understand that what we are seeing is just a snapshot of someone’s life. No one’s life is perfect.
So, in an effort to stop the propagation of social media fraud, this week I have included a picture that I would normally never include on a posting. It is a picture that is more relatable than the most of the postings I see. It is a pile of laundry. Actually, it is several loads of laundry. It is clean, but it has been piling up there all week.
Even though I have moments of success, today I choose to show that we are all human. Ladies, we are all on the same team. Let’s start building each other up instead of tearing each other down!
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man [or woman] sharpens another.” – Proverbs 27:17
