For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Matthew 12:34
Several years ago, I began pulling away from social media. For someone who works in sports-social media, has been on Facebook since early 2008, MySpace before that and various message boards before that, let me tell you, it wasn’t an easy thing to do.
But, it was a long overdue necessity for my personal well being.
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I’ve seen the good and bad sides of social media. Many times, I myself got caught up in the bad side in the early days. I’d argue with folks on Facebook or Twitter over the stupidest things. It was all in an effort to be right and relevant while they were wrong and out of touch.
I wanted to make sure my voice was heard. I became very negative and judgmental. People were delusional and so set on their opinions that they couldn’t see how wrong they really were. In that, I became cynical about life. A downward spiral soon followed.
Oh, my career was going well. I had left the corporate world and became involved in sports like I always wanted. I knew my stuff – writing a blog, hosting a show, getting paid to write elsewhere. My follower count wasn’t growing numbers-wise, but the quality of the followers was superb.
My moment was within my grasp. I was going to BE somebody. Yet, it all left me….unfulfilled.
I was working so hard to gain authority and influence on social media that I lost sight of what was important. I lost self-respect and compromised my integrity. I didn’t like what I was becoming because it was exactly what I was seeing across social media – forms of disrespect, arrogance, self-righteousness and hate.
All of that intake, was filling my heart.
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I grew weary of what I was seeing on social media. No longer were people seeking dialogue. With each passing year, people lean toward the megaphone-mentality rather than listening. In other words, I have an opinion and by golly, you are going to hear it.
No. That is not the social media world I want to live in.
But, working in social media kind of requires you to actually be on social media. So, if I had to be on the platforms, I needed to adapt. I needed to make it manageable given the social climate at the time, which I knew was only going to get worse. So, I changed some things — who I was connected to, my mindset, my focus. Because I was too caught up in the negative, I needed to instead focus on the good.
Scroll through my Twitter timeline today and it is vastly different than four or five years ago. Aside from the occasional sports commentary or reply to a connection, my timeline is dominated by the good being done in sports. I have been purposeful and intentional about what I share.
My heart has changed. While I am not, nor will I ever be perfect, what I share and/or speak has changed too.
For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Matthew 12:34
Our mouths may not be literally speaking as much during this pandemic, but our timelines sure are. And, what we say (or share) says a lot about the condition of our hearts.
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What fills my heart right now? What fills yours? Scroll through your timeline.
What do you see? What you see is a reflection of your heart. Is there pain, sadness, anger, confusion? Or, is there joy, love and laughter? Do you detect bitterness or peace?
Are others always at fault? What about arrogance, self-righteousness or pride? Are you tearing others down more than building them up?
On the flip side, are you – like I used to – judging others for their social posts? Are you constantly trying to point out the errors of their ways or their hypocrisy? Is their every post riling you up to where you have to respond?
Let’s go a little deeper.
What are you hearing in their words? Just for a moment, look past the disagreement with their point of view and listen to their pain. Do you hear it? Do you hear the anger that’s rooted in pain? Do you hear their bitterness born out of unforgiveness? Do you hear the arrogance rooted in insecurity? Do you hear the fear coming from loneliness?
There is a reason why we do what we do, say what we say, think what we think. Unresolved or unreconciled past pain and hurt has a way of taking root in our hearts and skewing our outlook on life. If we don’t deal with it properly, we dwell there.
Here’s another way of looking at it.
When we post stuff on our social timelines, who are we talking to? Who are we trying to convince that COVID-19 is not a hoax? Who are we trying to tell that Republicans are more godly than Democrats or Democrats love people more than Republicans? Who are we complaining to about our bad day at work or the person in the store that didn’t wear a mask or that Black Lives Matter?
Who are we talking to? Not all of our friends or followers are online when we are. There’s no guarantee that all of them will see what we post. Some people are even going so far as to tell their “friends” that they will be removed if they post opposing viewpoints. For all we know, we’ve been muted already.
The only guarantee of who I am talking to when I post is…myself.
Oh sure, I may get some response. Some may give me validation for my feelings or opinion by agreeing with me. Or, they might bring truth and argue with me – which ticks me off, at which point I know it’s time to get off the old FaceTwitGram (sarcasm).
In the end, I’m really just posting to get out what is in my heart. And if my heart is filled with pain, anger, frustration, bitterness, confusion, arrogance, pride – I could go on – you’ll see it in my timeline through what I share and the words I “speak”.
I want my heart to be filled with God and His goodness. I want it to be filled with His truth, love and understanding. I want His mercy and grace and wisdom to pour out of it. I want His abundance coming out of my mouth (and timeline) when I speak.
For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Matthew 12:34
So, what fills your timeline?
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Sunny Cadwallader 
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