And to be honest (if I may borrow the slang of the acronym in question), I'm not sure I like the trend that much.
Sometimes, people are nice to each other.
But sometimes they're not.
At least in my humble opinion (imho), tbh seems like a cheap way to sling a little dirt on someone publicly.
I'm not a in opposition to facebook slang. In fact, I enjoy the tribal/ viral-ness of it. It's fun. What isn't fun is when I see teenagers hurting each other.
Let me make up a sample that resembles some of the things I've read...
"tbh: you're a nice girl and we used to talk in math. but you really need to go outside more and not be on your computer so much. it'd do you good to get a life or just kill yourself."
Ouch. Pain. I hurt deeply when I read words like this. I can only imagine what it would feel like to receive words like these.
Mixed in the pain and dirt of wall posts are some social niceties and some really genuinely good offerings too. But the mean outweighs the good for me in this case and I wanted to provide a new just-as-good-if-not-better-than acronym to take it's place.
Right before I boarded a plane home to return to my youth group tonight, and right after I had just seen one too many hurtful *tbh comments, I posted this on facebook.
"What if everyone started praying for each other on here instead of tbh'ing each other. Call it pfy: starting now. Going viral....."
In just a few hours dozens of people were liking the post, dozens were sharing pfy on their walls, and even more started to pray.
My heart raced. And now I'm excited.
There are so many teenagers who would rather "pray for you" than tell you a truth stripped of love, that could possibly crush your spirit.
That gives me hope. No matter what our age. We can choose to bless each other. And I'm excited that maybe trying something different (because we are indeed different) will bless people and keep them from despair.
All of us have the potential for deep and lasting relationships. And yes, with deepness comes a more vivid honesty forged over time. But that honesty should be saturated with a love that stems from the one who loved us first. We should follow the example set in front of us, loving each other--praying for one another-- instead of word blasting our hearts to pieces in the name of truth.
Get ready to say, "I pfy today" and feel the blessing of praying for people specifically from the heart.
Thanks to hundreds of teenagers and adults around the US and a few living around the world, who have been the leaders of the last twelve hours, already changing the *tbh trend to a *pfy culture.
You rock.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The Bible, John Chapter 13, Verses 34 and 35
Tweet @brooklynlindsey or @hpnyintern The whole #hpny team is #pfy...
