I am getting pressure to join facebook. I keep getting emails from people who want to be my friend. I feel vaguely guilty for turning down their friendship request, but I cannot imagine finding the time and energy to keep up with another communication demand! I actually considered joining until I read what it involved. How do people keep up with all that?

All of my sons and their wives have facebook pages. My husband has a facebook page. Our office has a facebook page. You probably have a facebook page too. And everyone I know who has a facebook page is bragging about how many friends they have. Some are brazen braggers like hubby Michael. Others are more casual with their boasting, finding subtle ways to drop their numbers into a conversation. Still others never mention how many friends they have but invite you to visit their page where the number of friends is posted prominently — not exactly humble but at least a passing nod in the direction of humility.

Michael says, “It’s all about how many friends you have on facebook.” He even said this while he was preaching in a guest pulpit about a month ago and got 3 invitations to be friends (I called them sympathy invitations) from people in that congregation. I think he has mentioned his need for more friends every time he has been in a pulpit since then and his numbers are rising exponentially. (Christians are really soft touches!) One teen friend recently accused him of cheating, using the pulpit to get friends, but he is unflinching in his pursuit of higher numbers.

What is this new phenomenon? Several of our family have not only facebook pages but also myspace, and something called Twitter pages. Two of them have personal blogs in addition to the public pages. And another two have additional blogs connected to their professional life and webpage. What is it that motivates all this communication? When I ask my family members, they say, “It’s fun.” When I ask Michael, he says, “It’s a way to connect with a lot of people at one time. Just look at all the old friends I’ve been able to reconnect with!”

A few months ago, when we started this webpage for Wellspring and the blog, I was quite proud of my 61 year old self for being able to adapt to the new technology. Well, facebook has given me a come-uppance. I am not adjusted at all! I find that I am very resistant to this new thing! It looms like a bottomless pit into which I could throw inordinate amounts of time!

But then, perhaps I am being short-sighted and much too rooted in outdated modes of communication, even, perhaps, a fuddy-duddy?!?

After all, maturity is flexibility!