Very few people I know have a bad day.

Let me correct that.  All the people I know have bad days and discouraging moments.

It’s just the people I hang around on twitter seem not to.  Everyone is so pumped to be part of an organization, has the perfect wife that they can’t believe married them, loves their family and is excited about the future.

Now to some extent that’s true, I’m sure.  I have a great wife, love working with the team at Connexus, am thankful for my kids and have moments where I’m downright pumped about the future.  But Toni and I argue and don’t always agree on things.  There are good days and bad days in ministry.  My kids are great but we have conflict.  And I’m mostly pumped about the future, but some days I get discouraged.

Confession:  I tend not to tweet the junk.  At times it means there is silence.  At times I find the one positive thing I can tweet about.

Second Confession: I don’t like following negative people.  I’ve actually stopped following people who are overly negative or rant all the time.  I love authenticity, but I don’t like negativism.

Third Confession:  I’m not sure I want to tweet a struggle because I would never want to throw a co-worker, friend or anyone in my world under the bus intentionally or unintentionally.  It’s just not fair.

I find blog posts and sermons the easiest to be ‘truthful’ on because they are longer and invite dialogue and explanation. But I won’t criticize anyone there either because I think it’s a bit unfair and unwise.   I can be self-reflective and self-critical because at least on blogs and in messages there’s a context for junk (at least my personal junk) and joy (shared joy or personal joy).  Personal differences are just that – personal, and they should be worked out one on one face to face.

It’s even easier to be self-reflective on a blog or in a message because you have time and a few minutes or words for context.  Twitter’s and Facebook statuses are so hard because they are so short.

That said, when you tweet, blog, or update your status on Facebook, how do you tell the truth?  Are we putting up false fronts?  Building up false personas?  How do you tell the truth and still encourage others?  Is our on-line personae actually the real ‘us’?  How can the real you be accurately known in social media?