If you’ve participated in online life for very long, chances are you’ve had your feelings hurt. In some cases, you may have been on the flip side and caused some hurt feelings. But let’s be honest. This happens in our “real life” relationships as well.
So what makes it different when it happens online?
Unfortunately, it may happen more often than we think without us even realizing it. With so much communication happening through comments, texts, tweets, and status updates, we no longer have the ability to decipher sarcasm, body language, or facial expression. What we type that may be funny in our head may come across as rude or hurtful across the wires.
Recently I was teasing a friend through a conversation on twitter. My sense of humor often times is sarcastic, but without the inflection in my voice and smile on my face, the conversation came across to my friend as hurtful. Thankfully she was brave enough to email me and tell me that she had been hurt by my comments. I was mortified! I always try to encourage through the words I post online. I immediately responded back to her and begged her forgiveness.
I was lucky that my friend had the courage to call me out when I had hurt her. I was thankful because I certainly did not want to lose her as a friend! Many times we have a tendency to take those comments to heart, then we unfriend, unlike, unfollow, and too quickly write off that relationship, burning bridges in our wake.
What if we took a moment before hitting the delete button to offer grace? Maybe we could give the benefit of the doubt, knowing they most likely did not intend to offend.
But then, let’s also keep a close watch over our words, self-editing our comments with love and mercy, seeking to encourage, uplift, and applaud!
Sisters, let us not just be hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word:
