Facebook Timeline: A Theological Reflection

"Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). This is a phrase in the prayer of one of the greatest men born in a time of crisis, witness to heaven’s wonders, the channel of immeasurable power, and leader of the chosen nation.

To number our days does not mean to look forward to the day of our death. Moses desired to understand what it means to be fully present in his situation—in his context. He wanted to be completely aware of his own timeline and deliberately familiar with it. At one point, he feared both what had been and what would be: “Why would Pharaoh listen to me?” he said, when the Almighty sent him to the ruler of the world’s superpower to liberate a nation (Exodus 6:30c). It was a paradoxical moment—he feared the created more than the Creator, even to the point of disobedience for his own sake, at the expense of many.

This is only a glimpse of what might have been written on his Facebook timeline—those memories that shaped his responses to the call of the present.

I. A very long past

Moses’ hesitation was clearly rooted in his past. The past prevented him from stepping into the future; it occupied his present.

On Facebook, the more we post, comment, upload, or update, the longer our timeline becomes. Everything we share—statuses, captions, likes, comments—frames how we wish to be remembered.
Like Moses, many of us have overstayed in the past. We still laugh at old jokes, resent old wounds, and repeat old stories. We all have a very, very long past.

If Facebook had existed in his time, Moses’ life journey could have filled a fan page with countless likes.

II. The emptiness of the present time

The mystery of the present is its inability to be captured in our timeline. The moment something happens—whether posted online or lived in reality—it becomes part of the past.

On Facebook, the present is the moment we chat with those who are also online, write new posts that could bring hope or despair, read messages from those who wish to connect or reconnect, or scroll through others’ timelines while reviewing our own.

The present may appear empty—but in truth, it is the busiest part of our lives. That is why we must gain a heart of wisdom by numbering our days—by living deliberately in the present through careful remembering and hopeful anticipation.

Moses’ prayer expressed his desire to learn the discipline of living in the now. The wonders he had witnessed—great and small—must have taught him that the past can bring guilt, and the future, anxiety; one is obsolete, the other premature. Both are sources of wisdom, but neither should prevent us from living fully in the present.

"Remembering" is not a gift of the past, nor is "hoping" a gift of the future; they are gifts of the present. 

Our Facebook timelines—ours and others’—can be sources of joy or fear, peace or hatred, gain or loss. The present has the power to transform what has been and to shape what will be.

Let us, therefore, live the present well.