Erin quickly built up loads of followers; the things she was posting looked amazing! She always seemed to be going to interesting places and doing exciting things; everything about her posts was picture perfect.
Rachel’s profile grew much more slowly. She wasn’t able to post as regularly and she often wondered where Erin found the time to visit all those beautiful places while her own time was taken up with the routines of school, friends and family.
As the school year drew to a close and the pressure of completing UCAS applications and studying for exams built up, both girls were feeling out of their depth. Rachel found herself really looking forward to an evening with her friends. They weren’t planning to do anything special, just watch a DVD and talk. She knew these girls so well she wasn’t even going to put makeup on - who needs another Instagram to prove where they’ve been?
Erin was finding life tougher. She wasn’t sure how she could find the time to keep her profile looking good and keep up with everything else that was going on. If only she could really live in the world her photos showed.
This is a retelling of Matthew 7:24-27: the wise and the foolish builders. While building your own house might be something that very few people do, we all construct an online identity and young people will be able to identify with this.
Here are some questions you might like to explore with your young people:
- How do you select a photo to go online / share?
- Do you use the first photo that you take?
- Do you apply filters to your photos and how do you choose those filters?
- Is the person you create online the true you?
- Maybe you can say things online that you can’t say face to face, so is your online profile the truest you?
- If someone you had never met had to describe you from your online comments and pictures, what would they say? What would God say?
- If Jesus created a Facebook account and asked you to keep it updated what would you post for him?
For this tale and more have a look at talesretold.org. You could even take the time to submit your own.
