The Twitter age and relationships

Bears fans know all too well the instant analysis that is available on the Internet. Jay Cutler was scrutinized on Twitter by both analysts and other players for leaving a playoff game before the game had even ended. The firestorm that ensued followed Cutler into this season. That one snippet branded Cutler as a soft player even though the course of his career showed otherwise. It took a game on Monday Night Football where he was taking a pounding and kept bouncing back for the "Jay is soft" talk to start subsiding.

Even today I came across an article that was talking about how Apple had slipped to the number 5 mobile phone producer in the third quarter. The article was pointing out that the slowdown was due to Apple changing their product lifecycle. Instead of introducing a new phone in the summer as had been customary, Apple introduced their new model in October. What I found interesting wasn't the talk about Apple or the reasons behind the numbers rather what I found interesting is how the analysts are looking at a companies performance on a quarter by quarter basis.

It is the business equivalent to the Cutler instant analysis.

It should be no surprise to anyone that pays attention to modern American culture that our lives have been reduced to the soundbite. A political campaign or career can hinge on a single statement or action. Stocks can rise or fall on mere rumor or conjecture. Yet if you really think about your relationships with those that are close to you, none of them are based upon a soundbite.

On the one hand my relationship with my wife completely and drastically changed on the utterance of two words:

"I do."

And with that we were married. But our marriage has never been based upon that single soundbite. Rather it was built through years of friendship that lead up to the point where we both decided to say those words. No relationship is truly built or destroyed on a single action or soundbite. A relationship grows or decays over the course of time. We may live in the age of the soundbite but that is not how we actually live our lives...if we want to be healthy.

The same is true with our relationship with God. It is not based upon a quick statement or simply praying the "sinner's prayer." Rather it is something that takes time to grow and should always continue to grow.