Facebook and First Day of School
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”—Ecclesiastes 3:1.
I became engaged on Facebook for almost an hour this morning! I had gotten up early to post the Daily Something and was overwhelmed by the pictures of children returning to school that week. I couldn’t stop looking at them. There were children I knew from previous churches, children and grandchildren of people I worked with at Children’s Hospital, children I sang and prayed with at the Cathedral School, and children from so many Vacation Bible Schools—children I learned from and dearly loved. Some were almost grown.
Most of the younger children and some teenagers agreed to look happy and excited for their parents’ pictures. I envision these same photographs in albums and embarrassingly shown at future weddings and anniversaries. I think of the joy of grandparents and friends, who cannot see their loved ones as often as they would like, but frequently visit with them on Facebook.
“Where have all the years gone?” was an often-quoted heading with the pictures. I agree. Life is so fleeting. That is why living in the moment, the precious present—loving and enjoying the “now”—is so important. I remember these children most because I did, for a nanosecond, stay present with them at some time in the past. So today, I send love to each of them. They, in turn, have sent love back to my heart, as I remember who they were and cherish who they are today.
Anthony de Mello reminds us to keep our album of beautiful memories, so we can go back and relive them even more thoroughly than the first time. He believes that a first encounter is often too powerful for us to take in. He encourages us to guard and keep these memories when we want or need to reconnect to their power in the past. Since this picture from the past, Langley has now graduated from college and waiting to go to law school. Mac is a junior in college, and Gray is now a senior in high school.
Living in the present gives us such beautiful, loving memories, but there is also a season for returning to relive those memories. Times of transitions in our lives, such as starting school, can trigger this need.
That was a splendid day on Facebook, worth getting up early to see—and a grand excuse for forgetting to check the regular news of the day.
Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/