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.

Numbering our days does not mean looking forward to the day of our death. Moses desires to understand what it means to be fully present in his situation—his context. He wants to be completely aware of his own timeline and deliberately familiar with it. He once feared what has been and what will be: "Why would the Pharaoh listen to me?" he said, when the Almighty sent him to the king of the once-world superpower for the liberty of a nation (Exodus 6:30c). The moment was paradoxical in that he fears the one created more than the Creator, to the point of disobeying for his own sake at the expense of many.

This is only a glimpse of what must have been written on his timeline that shaped his responses to the call of the present.

I. A very long past

Moses’ response was obviously rooted in the events that had happened in the past. The past prevents him from moving forward to the future; his past occupies his present.

On Facebook, the more posts, comments, uploads, updates, and similar activities that we do, the longer our timeline becomes. Things become recorded the way we want our friends or other people to know [if we’re publicly viewable]. Our statuses, picture captions, likes, and comments all frame how we prefer things about us to be remembered.

Most of us, like Moses, overstay in the past. We still laugh, we still resent, we still fear, and we often tell stories about the past. We all have a very, very long past.

If only Facebook had already existed in his time, his life journey could have created a fan page with numerous likes.

II. The emptiness of the present time

The mystery of the present is its inability to be included in our timeline. All present events and situations that are posted become part of the past. This is true both in the virtual reality of Facebook and in the actual reality of human life.

The present is an opportunity to chat with those who are also online. We could write new posts that may be a source of hope or despair; we could read the messages of those who want to connect or reconnect, or we could be the ones to connect or reconnect; we could find our long-lost friends or search for new friends; we could view others’ timelines; or we could review our very own timeline.

The present on Facebook may seem empty. But in reality, it is the busiest part of our lives. This is the reason why we need to gain a heart of wisdom by counting our days through life in the present with careful remembering and hoping.

The prayer of Moses displayed his yearning to learn the discipline of living in the present. All the wonders, big and small, that have happened right before his eyes could have made him realize that the past may bring guilt and the future may bring anxiety; one is obsolete while the other is still premature. Both, however, are potent sources of wisdom, but they must not be allowed to prevent us from truly being able to live 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 timeline [and others’ timelines] could be a source of joy or fear, peace or hatred, gain or loss. The present has the power to change what has been or make what will be, so let us live the present well.