Lessons From a Mother's Heart to Her College-Bound Daughter: Everyone is Broken, Social Media Imaging

We will be helping our youngest daughter, Grace, make the first-time move on campus in just a few days.  In all the excitement and chaos, how do I slow time to put into words she will hear, the things so important for her to know and understand?  Holy Spirit, come.  Fill my heart that I might convey these lessons that are monopolizing my worried heart; and permeate her heart to hear what You want her to hear. 

There are a lot of good things about social media and our desire to be connected, but there are many troubling issues that should be rightly noted.  I think a big one is the fact that people are rarely who they claim to be.  Social media imaging creates illusions of what we want people to think we are and it’s not the real version.  You see, human beings are broken creatures.  We are all insecure.  We are all struggling.  Life is messy, and no one gets through it without battle wounds and scars.

A huge culprit in this deception game are celebrities and public figures.  Those women appear to be perfect!  Perfect bodies, perfect hair, and not a blemish to be had on that flawless, perfect skin.  Really?  You and I both know this is not true, but they do such a great job with their imaging that you can’t help but believe they not only have it all together body-wise, but they also have the kind of life to make we normal folk feel like complete failures. 

The real problem comes then with young, impressionable women who are never going to match up to that created illusion.  They struggle greatly in a sad pursuit of something unattainable, some image they construct in their mind of what they need to be for a happy and fulfilled existence. Such an unfortunate waste of energy.    

I know this is not something that has really been an issue for you.  One of the qualities I love about you is your security in who you are.  But your life is going to be changing a great deal; you will be fully immersed in a world of college students, with little room to turn.  There will be drama and disputes, gossip and glamour.  I know this will most likely annoy you as you have little patience for people and their drama.  Through it all I hope you keep in perspective that we are all broken.  There is no one who does it perfectly. 

Everyone is searching to find their way with all their baggage and insecurities in tow.  This includes you.  I guess the point I want to remind you of can swing both ways.  First, don’t be fooled by those you will meet and might be envious of- thinking they have it altogether, because they don’t most of the time.  They are just as unstable as the next one.  And second, remember not to judge them all too harshly.  As it says, “there but for the grace of God go I”.  

It is only God’s grace that fixes what is broken in all of us.  All we can do is let Him have at it. 

Dear, Lord, we thank you for the gift of life and this time of new experiences and growth for our daughter.  Give her the grace and wisdom to discern what is real and what is not in people, and to love them as You love them. Amen.     

Hail, Mary…