Social media is both one of the most amazing and most harmful inventions of our time.

Amazing in the sense that people like my husband can watch his cousins’ children grow up in a foreign country, and vice versa for free. It’s a beautiful way to stay connected with people we might otherwise rarely see. Beautiful in the way that we can further kingdom work simply with a tiktok or a post. 

Awful in the sense that before social media, we only had to care for our village and our village news. Now, at the tips of our fingers, we have the news of every village, everywhere all the knowledge of everything good, bad, and ugly. The mistakes of the struggling are forever documented on mugshot Facebook pages. The rudest in the community are given a free forum to complain for the entire town to hear. And on and on.

Then there’s the pressure , constantly in our faces , the pressure Louisa sang about, ya know? The pressure to be “gram worthy”, picture perfect, beige and gold, perfect skin care routine type of women. It’s a ridiculous standard we are faced with and force ourselves to meet. 

As believers, our standard is and should be different. We are not called to chase forever-changing trends, but to walk in the unchanging truth of the Word of the Lord.

This year, I am choosing conviction over culture.

I am choosing to listen to the promptings laid on my heart and follow them. To be gentle and loving and present: with myself, my children, and those around me. To be a different woman than I ever was before. A woman sans judgment, sans bitterness, sans gossip, sans comparison.  To only try to be better than the me I was yesterday,instead of trying to be the influencer on my screen,  as I strive toward Heaven and toward being more Christlike.

Not because culture is always loud and wrong, trust me we are a lot nicer sometimes than those who have gone before us, but because conviction is quiet, anchored, and tailored to me. Not the social masses. Not whatever new thing I can buy today that promises to change my life.

Conviction does not move with popularity. It does not crowdsource. It is me, my personal checklist, and the Holy Spirit, shaping what my life needs to look like. Its a forever trustworthy source of comparison. 

Culture tells us to curate a life that looks successful. God calls us to cultivate a life that is faithful. And oftentimes, faithfulness looks painfully ordinary.

Sister, I am here to tell you, and I mean with my whole chest, it is absolutely okay to be exceptionally ordinary.

In your ordinary house as you try to save money.
In ordinary outings where kids’ hair is wild and not everyone is picture perfect.
Choosing prayer over distraction.
The Bible over the latest bestseller.
Slow and steady instead of constantly on the go.
Cooking real food instead of filling your body with junk.
Choosing shows that uplift instead of ones that quietly pull you into places God would never want you to be.

Sometimes it means putting your phone down and pretending it’s 2006.

I hesitate to say it, because the crows’ feet forming on my eyes are already reminders of my mid 30’s approaching quicker than I would like them to, but back in my day, we had to sit at a computer, listen to dial-up, and work for our socials. We didn’t have free minutes to text all day and night . We had house phones, times to call, times to watch TV, we had to work for these things. And in many ways, we were better off for it. Actually in almost every way we were better off for it- because we could turn it off. 

Because beyond the “keeping up with the Kardashians” level of pressure is the darker side of social media….if it can get darker.

Every time we scroll, we are inundated with so much.
In 2025 we watched a man shot and murdered live. Brutally. In real time.
Fifteen seconds later, people were celebrating it.
Then ….a cute puppy video?

Our systems were not designed to absorb the world like that. We are chemically frying our brains , from sadness to anger to comedy, in the span of 45 seconds.

How devastating for us all.

It’s time to get back to our roots; or better yet, deeper roots.

Roots of truth.
Roots of grace.
Rooted in a quiet confidence that does not require outer validation, but rests in the assurance of the Holy Spirit that you are on the right path.

This year, I don’t want to be known for being trendy.
Not for the latest thing.
Not for the newest political or social justice craze.

I want to be known for being rooted.

Conviction over culture means I may walk slower.
Speak less.
Scroll less.
Touch some grass.
Pray more.
Choose the least popular thing.

It means I may not fit neatly into spaces that reward loud opinions and instant reactions, but I will fit securely into the will of God.

And that is enough.

As this new year begins, my goal is to use social media for good,  but not too much.
To choose real life over this screen,  while using this screen to further His Word.
To honor God in all that I do.

And in a culture that is constantly shifting,
That kind of life is quietly radical.

🖤 Every Day Amen.