Of all things! “Who’da thunk you’d get on facebook!”  (That’s a direct quote from grandson Joël). I’ve always thought of Facebook as a online hangout for teenagers with too much time on their hands.  How did it happen that this 85-year-old grammy is cruising the site, looking for friends?

This is how it all came about. I received an e-mail from my granddaughter Susana (in Guatemala) saying she had put up new pictures on Facebook. Now I like to look at the pictures Susy sends, since she is the mother of my greatgranddaughter, Selva (which means forest, in Spanish) and it’s nice to keep up with one’s far-flung family. One problem: To see Susy’s new pictures on Facebook, I had to join. It was free, so I joined.

Actually, I had previously been invited to join Facebook by two friends but they had never baited me with new pictures and I had not bitten. Facebook is, as they say, a network of friends. So once I registered there were the folks that had invited me previously, and there were their friends, and the next thing I knew, on my very first day on Facebook, I found that five of my grandsons had much interesting information available, including pictures and profiles.

Where do I go from here? People on Facebook keep asking me to be their friend. A few I know, most I don’t, but they know people I know. I think I now have 16 friends on Facebook. How many more should I add? And why? It’s easy to understand the lure of the site. It’s an easy way to gain instant friends, become a member of a group, belong, interact, keep abreast of what’s going on with the folks you’ve hooked up with. It seems it is used as a ministry by some and an outreach by others. Can you believe it? — I just added as a friend a priest who used to be in my home parish, who I liked very much. I was sorry when he was transferred,  and now he’s back – as my friend – on Facebook! Hallelujah!!   It turns out we have four friends in common and he has 78 friends I haven’t met (yet).

I find my grandson Sage is a member of the North American Solar Challenge. I never heard of it, either. This leads me in yet another direction on my computer.

What next? I can see how easy it would be to while away the hours meeting people, joining groups, getting involved in a dozen causes. Don’t I already spend time enough on the computer blogging? And my blogging acquaintances think I should join Twitter, and if I join Twitter I absolutely MUST use Twhirl.

There is an obvious need for balance here. I must muse about it.

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For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. 2 Timothy 4:3-4.