Irl Over Url

Karen

Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice.

—Proverbs 27:9

I recognized the familiar buzzing sound as my cell phone did a vibrating dance across my kitchen island, signifying another notification coming through on social media.

I stopped what I was doing—folding laundry while also trying to catch up on the latest news from my neighbor—to check my phone to see what the latest pings and dings were all about. A new follower on Twitter. A private message on Facebook from someone. A few likes on an Instagram image I’d put up just minutes prior.

When I’d finished clicking and tapping my way around all the latest notifications, I looked up. My neighbor was headed out my front door and back to her house across the street. I’d allowed the pull of my phone to eclipse the f lesh-and-blood person standing right in front of me!

The abbreviation IRL stands for “in real life” and is used to denote a person you know in the real world, not just the world of the internet. The acronym URL means Uniform Resource Locator and is used to specify addresses on the internet. What often happens in our phone-driven culture today is that we let the places a URL may take us—to a blog, social media site, or comment thread—supersede the time spent with people we know in real life—family members, neighbors, friends, or coworkers. As a result, our IRL relationships stagnate, suffer, or even stop developing altogether.

Today’s verse speaks of the pleasantness of heartfelt advice from a true friend. Oh sure, we can cultivate online friendships that are helpful and even deep, but there is just something so spiritually satisfying about a friend who knows you up close and personal—one who can help you in times of uncertainty, confusion, or sadness. Face-to-face connections with people with whom we share life in close proximity can grow, deepen, and encourage us in ways that exhibit what the Bible refers to as fellowship—a heart-to-heart bond with other believers that comes from the shared common love of the gospel of Christ.

So put down your phone. Find a real-life relationship you’ve been neglecting and reconnect. Together you can share life, offering support, advice, and maybe even a neighborly cup of coffee sometimes.

Father, forgive me for the times when I let the pull of technology trump the call to connect with the people You have placed in my actual life. I want to do better. Help me put IRL people over the buzzing and beeping of my phone. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Evaluation time! On a scale of one to ten, with one being never and ten being always, how often during the day do you succumb to the tug of technology? What self-imposed guidelines can you follow to stop letting apps and sites take time away from the people in your life with whom you should be connecting instead?