Your back fat shrunk by a half inch. Your son played in a soccer game on Saturday. You actually pulled off replicating your great-aunt’s chicken parmesan recipe. You went out with friends. You have friends. Your dog is cute. You woke up with a new revelation about life or God or why you do what you do.
And…. my thumb responded. I responded with a big thumbs up. Way to go! Good for you! There is no cynicism in my thumb. My thumb is genuine. It’s not just my thumb though; it represents my whole self. My whole self is happy to know about even a few of the many good things that are going on in your life.
Chances are you wouldn’t have told me about your back fat or kids soccer or any of those things in person, but for some reason, the screen gave you permission to share and permission to rejoice. We share because intrinsically we know that life is meant to be shared.
People talk all the time about how social media has reduced our authentic personal connectivity, but I disagree. Without social media, I would never know about your victory over back fat (way to go! – can you take some of mine?) or that your son played soccer (how cute is that?), or that you can cook chicken parmesan (I love chicken parmesan too!) or that you have good friends who take you out (good friends are the best!).
I most certainly would not have spent enough time with you today to get the privilege of hearing your most intimate revelations about life, God or why you do what you do.
Social media has done something amazing. It has given me the chance to rejoice with you about something I didn’t even know you were doing until now. Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat and Pinterest have given me a million reasons to celebrate and my thumbs are swelling with pride.
So snap, tweet and like it up. “Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn” – Romans 12:15. Your all-powerful thumb is doing more good than you will ever know.
