I have a confession.
I have a small group of friends I text funny stuff to that I am afraid to share online. They are like minded, humor friendly, non judgy people I trust not to shame me for laughing at something I probably shouldn’t be laughing at.
It is possible I am the only one who does this.
It is possible that you will have two reactions to this post:
- How dare you sir! I never text funny things to a select group of like minded people.
- You’re not brave! I tweet, Facebook, and pin whatever I feel like.
But regardless of your reaction, I felt it was time to come clean.
Here’s how it usually happens:
- I see something I think is hilarious online or I run into a hilarious situation in my real life. (Remember that one? It’s the one we all focused on until about 2002.)
- I save the image or take a photo.
- I stop for a second and think, “If I post this online, will other Christians judge me or misinterpret it?”
- I realize the answer to that question is always, “Yes.”
- I calculate what percentage of people will judge me. (Not all Christians are judgmental of course. I would argue the majority are awesome and many are kind hearted. I’m talking about the loud minority that will see my photo of my kids Halloween costume and make a comment about “Satan’s Birthday.” We were the cast of Gilligan’s Island by the way!)
- Depending on the threshold I am willing to accept, I deem it a “non-tweetable” moment and instead text it to a handful of close friends who will not judge me but instead laugh along with me at the silliness of laugh.
The one caveat to this process is Jenny’s proximity to me at the moment. At her funeral I am going to release a book titled, “Things my wife wouldn’t let me tweet.” It will be sold in wheelbarrows because the volume is so heavy. Will it be awkward to do a funeral/book release party? Perhaps, but publishing is changing so quickly that you have to constantly try new stuff in order to stay relevant.
So there it is, I have a secret circle of friends I text funny stuff to. We could probably spend some time analyzing my insecurity about being judged by strangers. (That I need everyone to like me, including people I wouldn’t even like, is a conversation that has made many of my counselors wealthy enough to buy a boat.) We could unpack the state of my heart, perhaps noting that maybe if I can’t share something with the masses I shouldn’t share it with friends either. (I disagree with that point, because there will always be things I will tell close friends who know me that I will never turn into a pinterest image for the world to see.) But instead, let’s have a little bit of shared confession.
Do you have a circle of friends you text stuff to?
If so, list on, give your friend a shout out in the comments.
