To the One Scrolling: How to Exhale Gratitude in Online Spaces
Scrolling. The word alone captures layers of stress, boredom, and anxiety. A slew of minutes waiting in lines. Lost hours. Sore thumbs.
We normalize it and criticize it, often in the same breath.
Scrolling steals our time. It keeps us connected. It stirs controversy and comparison. It delivers timely encouragement. It drains us. It empowers us.
For all it entails, scrolling shapes us. The question we get to answer is how.
How will we emerge: Silenced? Shamed? Strengthened?
Weighing into the how are two important what questions: What will we consume, and what will we contribute?
Scrolling is Like Planting Seeds
Scrolling news and social media is like planting seeds. Every image or meme you see, every comment or headline you read, every video or reel you view tucks a seed into the soil of your mind. Those seeds shape our internal dialogue, our sense of self worth, our moral compass, and our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
Eventually, what grows inside us shows. Fear or freedom. Division or connection. Discontentment or gratitude.
Yes, there’s the algorithm and uninvited ads, arguments, and images. Still, we can establish boundaries around how much time we spend online, and to a degree, what fills our feeds. We can set app limits and content filters, follow and unfollow.
Why? Because what we consume online impacts our character–and the nature of the ripple we create. What we normalize makes us more–or less–reflective of Christ.
Illuminating Christ
I wish I could lean across the table right now and hold your gaze. I’d remind you that we’re the sort of people who don’t complain about what fills our social media feeds, we change it–one exhale of thanks at a time.
A picture of God’s creativity.
A Bible verse about His faithfulness.
A testimony of His kindness.
A glimpse of His grace.
A name that explains His nature.
A list of gifts that give sacred pause.
Audible thanks, as we practiced last week, makes way for gratitude to spill everywhere. Yes, even in online spaces.
Our mission to highlight the nature of God don’t stop at the line of in-person and online. Here’s how Jesus’s brother James explains:
We have a special role in His plan. He calls us to life by His message of truth so that we will show the rest of His creatures His goodness and love.
James 1:18, The Voice
Did the phrase “He calls us to life” catch at you too? God deeply desires for us to be alive–from our souls to our smiles. He wants the life–His life–inside us to radiate so that it can illuminate Him.
Online spaces provide ample opportunity to do exactly that, gently turning attention towards the great, generous, and good heart of God.
Shaping Social Media Feed
Prayerful attention to what we consume online creates space for the beautiful fruit of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) to grow within us–and spill over into social media. In this way, we can contribute to what fills others’ feeds.
May it be love instead of hate.
Joy instead of discouragement.
Peace instead of contention.
Patience instead of stress.
Kindness instead of selfishness.
Goodness instead of gossip.
Faithfulness instead of flippancy.
Gentleness instead of pride.
Self-control instead of indiscretion.
We breathe life right into the distracting and divisive when we exhale gratitude in online spaces.
An exhale is effortless. Automatic. What if our gratitude could be the same way?
The flavor of our tone as we caption our photos and engage in the comments.
The lens that helps us make sense of delays as we trust the Master Planner.
The overflow of what’s sown and grown in our hearts.
Research tells us that gratitude practices can rewire the brain. Gratitude can literally create neural pathways that lead to greater positivity. The more we choose thankfulness, the stronger those neural pathways become.
So if gratitude feels impossible in this season, take heart. Every small whisper of thanks, every comment pointing to God in praise, every spillage of your gratefulness in real life and online–it all matters.
Baby steps snowball, as Dave Ramsey says.
So we start from where we are today, noting the gifts along the way. Naming the grace that frees us, frees all of us.
We steep in gratitude, slow-bake it into our DNA, and let it spill over.
Your Mission This Week
Exhales of gratitude online: that’s our goal for this second week of the Spill-Over Gratitude Challenge.
Take a look at the prompts for the challenge and pick a few that you could share in your favorite online space. Over the next several days, share a captioned photo, a short but sincere post, or a comment on someone else’s post in response to each of those challenge prompts. You are welcome to reference the challenge for context, but also? It’s kinda fun to exhale gratitude just because it brings a bit of light where there’s little.
Go forth and be you, with gratitude seeping from your tender heart.
Still need the prompts? You can right-click the graphic below to save it to your device, or get a printable download (with a white background) HERE.
Also, if you are finding this (or listening to the podcast) and it’s not early November, please know you can take the challenge any time. Better yet, invite a few friends to join you!
Feel free to send, save, or pin the gratitude challenge prompts.
A Prayer as You Exhale Gratitude Online
Lord, we’re hopeful. Hopeful that little ripples of gratitude can impact the climate of our online spaces.
Give us the courage to choose what type of seeds get planted in our minds. Grant us wisdom about where to set boundaries. Guide us as we contribute to social media feeds in ways that glorify You.
May we inhale Your grace, Your truth, and Your love so we can exhale gratitude.
In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.
Just a friend over here in your corner,
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