God Smack!

"God Smack" by Kate, 3/11/09 (MSN Paint)

I'm over it, Bloggees. Oh -- Er, I mean that woman I was hypothetically blogging about the other day is over it. You know -- the guilt she was feeling about all the time she'd been putting in on facebook?

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As you may recall, she had kind of worked it all out by the end of the story, realizing that facebook itself wasn't necessarily bad; she probably just needed to control herself a little bit -- find some balance, act like a grown-up. She'd been hearing those things all of her adult life anyway. Maybe it was worth a try...

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Then, the very next day that woman got a real God Smack. (The one she thought she'd received while she was reading her Bible must have been a big glob of dust falling off the ceiling fan or something.)

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You see, the morning after she had posted her Bible-Thumpin' post, she logged onto facebook FOR JUST A FEW MINUTES. SHE JUST HAD TO MAKE SURE THAT NO ONE HAD TRIED TO CONTACT HER ABOUT SOMETHING IMPORTANT, OK? And guess what...

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There was a new message in her inbox -- a message that was about to change her missing-that-extra-hour-of-sleep-Monday morning funk into a Zippity-Doo-Da-let's-get-the-party-started Monday morning buzz! It was a message from one her friends -- well, actually her daughter's friend. Now Hypothetical Woman hadn't actually spoken to this friend in quite some time, but there she was in her message, telling the woman how fondly she remembered when she used to hang out with the woman's family regularly. (In fact, she was considered their "other" daughter, and was often referred to the good daughter.)

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Well, Mrs. Hypothetical got choked up. She really did. She fondly remembered those days, too. This young friend truly was like a daughter to her and her husband. This was the friend who picked their daughter up every morning and drove her to school (and home again) their entire senior year, ate lunch at their house nearly every day, joined them for family gatherings and on family trips...The words in that message that really got to our woman, though, were these:

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"I believe God puts people in our lives for a reason."

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That is the absolute truth, and try as we might, we can hardly ever figure out His reason!

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How could I have possibly have known all those years ago that that beautiful young girl who was always hanging around -- the one we thought was put into our lives so our daughter could have a BFF...Well, it just never occurred to me that God had sent her to us so that one day -- last Monday, in fact -- she could show me that facebook really does come with some good attached -- that it is not a total waste of time!

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I am being completely honest -- and not at all hypothetical -- when I say that the words I read that morning really did change the way I saw my entire week stretching out before me. (And I've kept that feeling for three whole days now!) But best of all: Neither I nor Hypothetical Woman needs to feel guilty about facebook time anymore!

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Bye now. I have to go change my status again...