People, as is often the case, have changed my mind. I'm not too proud to admit that. Throughout my life, I find that a little dose of humility often brings me to the place God wanted me all along anyway. People have helped me see these blogs (and specifically my writing one) in a different light. Here's what I've learned...
1) I Need to Practice what I Preach - Anyone who's been around me for awhile knows that I have a heart's desire to help people find and experience what I call "A Garden Walk." I suspect I'll have many posts on the subject over time. The bottom line, though, is that Adam and Eve give us the only perfect, God-designed picture for humanity before we walked away from Him. Adam and Eve were in the garden of eden before the fall - naked and unashamed. I call this "transparent and unashamed" when I'm teaching on the subject. The bottom line is this: they had nothing hidden and nothing to hide. That's what I strive for as well. Blogging adds another level of transparency to my life for anyone to see. It's not about whether someone will actually care to read this or not. It's about my willingness to share it.
2) My Mind is a Mess - I just got done teaching about "bad boxes" and "good boxes" on our weekend services at church. (You'll get a chance to learn more about that lesson and the church in future posts, I'm guessing.) I joked about how nobody wants to see what's going on inside my mind because it's such a mess. What I've learned over the past 6+ years, though, is that they do. I'm not exactly sure why, but people don't often come up to me to thank me for my excellent Biblical Exegesis of a specific passage of Scripture. They do CONSISTENTLY thank me for being honest about my process - my "mess" if you will. I'm told that I don't look down on people or make them feel "less than" me because of my honesty about what I face in life and how I face it. In other words, sharing my "mess" is not a bad thing.
3) The Process is Detailed - During the same series on boxes (no, really it will make sense some day), I finished up by reminding us all that the "process is good." I was trying to encourage people not to get down when they're not perfect today. Becoming "Holy" as "He is Holy" is a process for all of us. After teaching the series, though, I realized that I'm barely scratching the surface of that process. I've helped people see that it exists and how it can work, but I haven't gotten into the details of applying this process to my life. There's simply not enough time in a Weekend Service to share all the details. In a blog, though, I can be transparent about my process and anyone who wants to see it is welcome to watch. Perhaps it can be a gift to someone.
4) It Helps Me - This last reason didn't really come from anyone else. It's more of a self-revelation. These blogs will help me work through life. I'm more of an extrovert. I'm not sure what you think that means, but I think that means that I process information better out loud. It helps me think when I can discuss a topic with someone. I'm realizing even now as I type this that the blogging process is very similar to "talking it out" with another person - even if no other person ever reads it. This is going to help me work through the things in my mind.
Well, there you have it. Transparent and unashamed...being honest about my mess...letting the details be seen...helping me process. That's what I expect will happen in my blog posts. I hope and pray that it will be a blessing to someone. I guess God already answered that prayer with a resounding, "yes." It's helping me.
Thank you, Lord.
Me
Great way to start your blog. Onward and upward!
ReplyDeletereason number four is the exact same reason why i've been blogging for six years or so. so often i start talking to people and they'll say "you've thought about this a lot haven't you" when in truth i've only just started thinking these things as i began talking to them, and that they're actually hearing my thought process.
ReplyDeleteway to go peter.