Month: October 2018

Facebook! That social phenomenon we love to hate, we try to avoid, and we can’t seem to do without. I have too many friends on Facebook. There are ‘friends’ from high school with whom I was never friends in high school. I barely remember them from those days, yet we’re friends.

Facebook is a great tool for moms with young kids to stay connected, to laugh and share common frustrations. When I was a young mother with two small toddlers, in the middle of a brutal Montreal winter, a little connectedness would have gone a long way.

My number one fixation with Facebook is my grandchildren! My daughters-in-law are great to put pictures up often and that’s all I need to make my day. It’s also a great way to stay connected with family – my niece in Switzerland, and other nieces and nephews all along the Eastern seaboard, and my sisters and sisters-in-law (my brothers don’t ‘do’ Facebook).

I have a friend with a wonderful sense of humor, but she suffers with bouts of depression. Her candidness on Facebook makes me uncomfortable on the one hand, but on the other, I admire her honesty and her ability to reach out. Most people on Facebook give us the impression their lives are a party. Laura, at least, tells the truth always.

The most curious friend I have on Facebook I have never met. We’ve been friends for nine years now. I’ve seen her children grow up, I’ve envied the trips she’s taken, the cruises, the fact that she lives in southern California…This is how we ‘met’ – in January of 2009, she did a search on Facebook – she typed in her birth name – Margery McDonald – besides her own, mine was the only other profile that came up. So we became friends. Now her husband has a rare form of cancer and is fighting for his life. Their kids are in their teens – too young to lose a parent; too young to deal with such pain.

I stay out of the political fray on Facebook; I don’t rant…and I ignore those who do. That was not the original intention of this social network – it was meant as an opportunity to connect with people – not to degrade, engage in hostile exchanges or rail against others’ political or religious leanings. Lately, I see it as an opportunity to pray – for Margery’s husband, for Laura, for my niece in Switzerland, with Crohn’s disease.

So don’t get annoyed with all the things people choose to do, say, post and vent about– pray for them; pray for your friends on Facebook; pray for people around the world. It’s a soothing response in these troubled times.

There’s a woman in our neighborhood who walks our road daily. She’s a saint! Every day, no matter the weather, you will find her collecting garbage – in the ditches, in the bushes, in the tall grass along the roadside. I often see her when I’m out in the early morning hours, running. We chat sometimes, and I thank her, profusely, for her tireless efforts to preserve the beauty of our country road; her constant act of picking up the trash that careless people discard as they drive by.

She hasn’t been down our way in quite a while- we live about four kilometres apart. So, when our stretch of road was recently littered with the refuse of a McDonald’s meal, I donned a pair of gloves, grabbed a garbage bag and headed out with the dog, to clean up the mess.

Now, before you say, ‘good for you,’ you must hear the rest of the story. I was angry, snatching up the burger boxes, straws, napkins and cups, and grumbling to myself. I just don’t understand people who find it acceptable to open their car window and fling their garbage onto other peoples’ property. How do they, in their right mind, justify their actions? These are not the things I muttered as I collected the remains of some family’s meal. My words, though not profane, were unkind. Ignorant was uttered more than once.

How does she do it? I wondered, plucking at the burs that caught on my socks and my sweater. How does my neighbor have the patience to pick up the garbage day after day? Over and over? How is she not frustrated by the actions of careless people and why doesn’t she just give up? The further I walked, the more I admired her spirit, her determination, her generosity…and her love.

When I take the time, God leads me, eventually, in the right direction. Two things were whispered in my ear, as I tromped along. 1.) God loves these litterers as much as he loves me; we are equal in his eyes, so I should get off my high horse right now. And 2.) my neighbor is a caring, loving person. My actions were not loving ones. I was doing the right thing in the wrong frame of mind.

The words from scripture that I, as lector, read aloud a few weeks ago, came back to haunt me. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. James 2.18. My works, it seems, need a bit of work, so what does that say about my faith?