God is NOT a Facebook Friend!

I love my Facebook! It is a wonderful tool to promote my business. It is a great distraction when I am waiting for the Northern Lights to come out. It is a wonderful way to keep up with all of the people I have met throughout my life. It is not, however the best way to have a great relationship with someone you desire to be closer than anyone else. Let me explain...
I have a couple of hundred Facebook friends. About half of those are my daughter's friends because that is part of the deal of her having a social network account. ( if her friends don't want to be my friend, so I can check up on all of them, they are up to something.) I check on those "friends" every so often, but don't usually communicate with most of them. I just kind of make sure they are not influencing my DD to do anything we find unacceptable, then move onto the next. Most of them would not even rate acquaintance.
The next group I communicate with a bit more. These are people I am actually acquainted with via a common group or friend. I have met most, communicated with all, but still don't really pay much attention to all their status updates.
For the people I consider "friends," I have each and every status update sent to my newsfeed. I read as many as I can, comment and like, and sometimes even "share" their updates with others. These people are still not in the "inner circle," but they have potential to be. I love them, but don't make an effort to really spend time communicating with them.
Then there are my close friends. I have regretfully neglected two of the more important ladies in this category a lot lately, but they know they are super important to me, so I continue to abuse them. Other than my husband and daughter, (ok, the grandparents, too...) they are the only people I would be willing to drop everything to be with them to help them through anything! When I am not taking them for granted we have very intimate conversations, outside of the social networks. I actually prefer our face to face conversations the most. I miss seeing them, talking with them, learning from them, praying with them, and sharing my most intimate feelings with them. They love me for the quirky lady I am, even when I am neglecting them.
Isn't that what our relationship with God is like sometimes?
There are times in our lives when we treat Him like He is someone else's friend, hardly worth checking on the status. Other times, we communicate a little, if it interests us. And yet other times we desire the intimate friendship we once had, but just can't seem to make the time to talk face to face. We are treating God like our Facebook friends, and He is so much more than that.
God desires a relationship with each and every one of us. He wants us to desire Him so much that we not only read, like, and comment, but stop to talk with Him one-on-one, off-line,in person. He waits for us to put Him first, but we all tend to passively ignore his PM's that ask us to call.
I have been very guilty of this as of late, but I am still working on our relationship. He has not given up on us, yet, so neither will I!
Can you relate?
Let me know what you think!

I am so Blessed!

I have been so blessed with a truly wonderful package of gifts. I can sing well, make balloon art, paint some cool stuff on faces and arms and legs, and entertain people while I teach Science. I really have been given so many gifts, I find it hard to use them effectively all the time. I want to use my gifts, but when I try to use them all at once, I find myself very fractured. I feel the pull from all different directions to use ALL my gifts at every opportunity. But that is impossible!
I have recently felt that pull even more because my husband has made it possible for a lifelong dream of mine to come to fruition. I am teaching classes in a classroom, in the attic of my home, in North Pole, AK. I have wanted this since I was a young child, teaching my dolls, in my Howard Johnson's colors playroom, in the basement of our home in Fall River, MA. That dream has traveled many miles, and has changed a bit over the years, but it was a seed planted by God even before I knew what homeschooling was! He has been guiding me even before I accepted Him! Wow!
Anyway, back to my feeling drawn and quartered...
I feel that my teaching these classes is part of the ministry I have been called to do. This, along with being a godly wife to my husband, and a godly example and mother to my daughter, is what I was designed to do by the Master Creator. When I realize how blessed I am, to be able to do these things, I just want to sing His praises at the top of my lungs!
And there lies the problem. I love to sing! I am at my happiest singing in my church choir, surrounded by all the music and voices that join with my voice to praise Him! Unfortunately, I have had some problems with my ear that have prevented me from being in choir for quite awhile. I am fine doing solos, but I don't enjoy those as much. I really have a hard time taking compliments after them. But in the choir, I can just experience the whole uplifting experience of praising Him, and not have anyone compliment me on what HE did. It may seem selfish, but I have just stopped singing in public because I don't want the attention in that way.
So back to the problem. I do feel the teaching is what I am being called to do, but what about not using my talents? I have prayed for some guidance, and felt led to blog about it.
Are you going through a similar struggle? How do you know that you are supposed to focus on one gift and not another? Will God take away some gifts if you do not use them?
Please, let me know what you think.