Ted has tagged me here to respond to this prompt: Write about 5 specific ways blogging has affected you, either positively or negatively.
1. I met Susan, through whom I met Olivia! (For those of you who don't know, Olivia has now been my girlfriend for nine months.) Several years ago (um, early 2005?) she found my blog through "Mookie" James, as I recall, and followed along with this electronic version of my life throughout my internship (student teaching) year and on through my time in the Near East. After finding out she has a "pretty darn attractive" daughter, I sort of blurted out something in a comment on her blog, and . . . history was made.
2. I have discovered that I like to think and write. Without any sort of avenue for this, I don't think I would have become aware that I really like to think through theological matters and be able to communicate to others what I'm learning. I used to write a lot in this genre in my own journal, but that has now become more of a prayer journal and a daily chronicle instead.
3. I have probably become somewhat more prideful and less discerning in what I believe. Well, maybe, maybe not. What I mean is this: Because it's easy for me to write about something and post it in the public arena (if you call my four readers the "public arena"), I know that at times I have felt like I'm somehow special because I'm writing on this pseudo-instructional platform. I've got something to tell people, darn it, and that makes me cool!
4. Blogging is both a blessing and a curse, in that I think through things a little more deeply as I actually write and receive some feedback from others; yet at the same time I am sometimes so desiring of writing something, anything, that I don't thoroughly consider the validity or worth of what I write. Let's face it, anybody with a computer can start a blog and contribute his two cents' worth. But not everyone deserves to do so. Not long ago, that required a college degree, a publisher's approval, and the work of judicious editors.
5. My desire to write--which I really do enjoy--does sometimes distract me from spending more time reading, studying, praying, and thinking. I'm sure that blogging has some value in teaching God's truth to others, but are there instead better uses of my time and mental energy?
4 comments:
Andrew,
Many good thoughts here. Especially about how you met Olivia. That's tops.
Also on writing. I like your reflections here all the way around. I would suggest that you keep reading and writing. Writing helps you think through what you're reading and what God may be teaching you in your life. I'm sure that's only one consideration, as you do suggest here. Plus you are a gifted writer and thinker, of course gifts from God for you to help and benefit others to God's glory.
Good post, and I enjoyed reading it.
#5 "are there instead better uses of my time and mental energy?" depends of whether the end result is to make you and those around you more like Christ
#3I think I have a 2X4 that may help with the humility, or lack thereof
Susan, as long as you don't have a Mack truck to help me with my humility, then I'm fine with that. Did you take that other 2x4 out of the plywood door yet? Let's get that done soon.
hehe
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