Wisdom from Miley Cyrus

When you have children, there are a few things that are all but impossible to avoid: Cartoons, McDonald’s, toy stores, playgrounds, drama and the latest artists in the “tween” category of music. It is from this last group that the inspiration for this post comes. I, personally, am not a Miley Cyrus fan. I wasn’t an “Achy Breaky Heart” fan either, for those of you old enough to know what that is. I am, however, a beneficiary of the latest social networking phenomenon of Twitter.

What in the world does Miley Cyrus and Twitter have in common? Nothing is the current answer to that question. But up until last week, Miley was a huge Twitter fan. Much to the pop culture media’s dismay she deleted her Twitter account “for good reason.” The media outlets would have you believe that “good reason” was her current boyfriend wanted her to delete it and she obliged. But if you followed the media storm she caused, you would have learned that she later said “It wasn’t because my friend told me to. I stopped living for moments and started living for people.”

It’s true. We live in a world that literally goes from moment to moment, event to event, task to task. We don’t take the time to consider the people who are RIGHT IN FRONT OF US.

Think I’m wrong? Consider this: once you leave church on Sunday morning, how often do you think about the people you go to Sunday School with or those who sing in the choir? Does your “to do” list include calling or sending cards to those needing a pick me up or just tasks to prepare for the next event? Can you remember who you spoke to and what it was about last week? How far back in the week can you go? No cheating, it can’t be work related – it has to be personal.

Oh sure, there are a few exceptions. But much like watching the Super Bowl to see the commercials, the people in our lives get sandwiched in between event after event. Some, like the best commercials, leave a big enough impact on us that we remember them, but for the most part, they get lost in the noise of our lives.

Don and Kathy Basha are friends of ours were missionaries in Africa in the bush for two years. When they returned stateside, they had an incredibly difficult time adjusting to life here. You see, where they were, PEOPLE were more important than EVENTS. If you were on your way to a meeting and a friend was in need, it was expected that you stop your journey and help your friend take care of what they needed. If you were hours late for your meeting, it was okay…that’s the way they lived. Don spoke of being late to where they were going just because someone needed to talk.

Can you imagine being hours late for a meeting in our society – no matter what the reason? In college, if a professor was 15 minutes late, the class was cancelled – even if it was a 4 hour class. If your doctor doesn’t see you within 20 minutes of your arrival, you’re encouraged to let the front desk know of your wait time. If we don’t get out of service until 12:10, the pastor becomes concerned that a spontaneous throat ailment has suddenly overtaken his now coughing congregation. Food isn’t considered “fast” if it doesn’t hit your hands within three minutes of ordering. If the phone rings more than twice, you have to answer it – even if that means putting the current conversation you’re having on hold.

We have become a society that lives from event to event or task to task. We live for the next “twitter moment” or “update status” for our Facebook pages while forgetting that PEOPLE are more important.