On Blogging

I remember when I read my first blog. It was shortly after Tyler was born and I became a stay-at-home mom. The blog, authored by another stay-at-homer, was recommended to me by one of Ross’s aunts who indirectly knew the blogger. At first, I must admit, I found the whole idea a bit strange. Reading and becoming engaged by someone else’s life, someone who I did not even know, felt akin to peeking into another person’s medicine cabinet (did anyone else have that debate in college?). But the blog was funny, the writer smart, the posts witty and thoughtfully crafted. She was a stay-at home mom but she still had goals and ambitions and dreams and drive. It was that blog that helped me feel a little less lonely, a little less overwhelmed and a little more encouraged as I transitioned away from the working world and fully immersed myself in this mothering gig. And so over the past 4 years I have kept reading and adding a few other blogs to my favorites as well.

In my earlier days of following blogs, I hated it when the authors would go days without posting. Expanses of time without new entries always left me hanging, wondering what was going on, wishing for new updates or clever commentary. And then, finally, I started a blog of my own.

I had a goal of not being that blogger – the one who throws you a bone here and there and then disappears for awhile. I thought – even if it’s just a little entry, a couple of pictures, a small quote – I could easily post every 4 or 5 days. And then I read the book A Woman After God’s Own Heart – a tough book, a great book, a challenging book, and a book that screwed around with my goals just a bit.

There are weak moments when I wished I had never ordered the darn book, but in the end I would have to say, other than the Holy Bible itself, there is probably no other book that has had as much direct impact on my life. I know, scary. But, in a nutshell, that book has caused me to seriously re-think my priorities, to re-think how I spend every minute of each day. It has encouraged me to prioritize my heart for Christ, for my husband, for my family – and as you may well know the overflow of the heart is actions.

It’s crazy how easy it is for me to have a busy day and at the end of that day realize I didn’t spend any time reading my Bible or praying or furthering my relationship with the Heavenly Father who I owe my very life to. It’s sad how easily I can squander the few hours of quality time I am granted with my husband or my kids – on the internet, on the phone, reading a book, distracted. There is always a house to be cleaned, a meal to be cooked, bills to be paid, shopping to do, exercising to be done, a post to write – a million things vying for my time. None of them bad things, of course, just things competing with the relationships that I value the most.

So, I will still pay bills and I will still shop and I will still get a new post on the blog every now and then, but I am dedicated to putting what really matters first. And if that means I have a dozen posts running laps in my head that never make it to the keyboard (as I quite often do) then so be it. For now, it’s just a little lower on the list of priorities.