They say what's in the well comes up in the bucket. Well, my well must be dry. I can't think of a think to write about. Hence, no posts lately.
The only think that comes to mind is the actual act of blogging. Why do we do it?
I started this blog on a whim-didn't put much thought into it at all. I just jumped in. The main reason I did it was because I wanted somewhere to share my faith. I also wanted a place to emote, to talk about home schooling, and to have fun interacting with other bloggers.
Oh! I was also hoping my extended family would read it and it would be a way of sharing our day-to-day mundaneness with them. Almost my entire family lives on the west side of the Mississippi while I live on the east side. I thought a blog might be a way for us to meet in the middle. Ha! They don't read it. My sons don't even read it. The only way I can get my husband to read it is to push him into the computer chair and say, "Hey. I wrote something today! Read it and tell me what you think."
I have one sister-in-law who does read it. I think she dutifully checks my blog every day and sweetly leaves a comment on each and every post. Thank you D!
Please don't think I'm having a pity party. On paper it does sound that way, but I'm not. I've accepted the fact that the people nearest and dearest to my heart don't care about my meanderings and have better things to do. (I may not be having a pity party, but being Italian, I do know how to lay out a good guilt trip! (Just in case one of them does happen by today.) )
I even have one close friend who feels that blogging is almost sinful. She feels that computers, blogs, and email are stealing away the sweetness of "real" friendships. People used to get together and chat over a cup of coffee or meet to teach each other how to sew, bake bread, or fix a limping marriage. Now people can "Google" all those things, and thus lose the joy of actually growing and learning with "real" people.
OK, now that I've wasted 5 minutes of your day, I have a question for you. Why do you blog? If you don't blog, but you jump into cyberspace to read them, why? Do you agree with my friend, that modern society is losing something precious because of new technology? Or, do you think it's possible to participate in both worlds without losing on either end?
I think you wrote about me, not you! So many things you wrote are the same for me too. My closest friends don´t read my blog and I actually started it for them! My daughters do, so that is one reason for me to continue. But my hubby couldn´t care less...
ReplyDeleteI sometimes just want to throw in the towel and get so tired, but after a weeks rest, I´m back. I think it´s addictive and I do love the comments I get from my bloggy friends. They are so supportive but I still want to keep my "real life" friends too. I try not to loose one "world" over the other. So, yes I do think it´s possible to do it both!
I live in a cave. I have no "real" friends nearby. Reading blogs helps me feel connected to the world and voice my opinion on a variety of subjects even if I don't comment. Blogs help to inspire me too. Thanks for the shout out J. You're my home slice #1 and I got yo back girl. Or something like that. ;-)~
ReplyDeleteI blog for my boys. I had been planning on writing this for years when blogs came along making it easy for me.
ReplyDeleteThey read every word and say things in response like,
"So that's why the sandwiches tasted funny,"
and,
"I wondered where my favourite ripped up jeans went to,"
or,
"I always suspected you were just like us."
At some point I'll print it all off, hand it to them in a book and then sign off.
I check your blog often, but rarely leave comments. I'm sure there are many like that. But I'm encouraged and often get a chuckle through your stories and your faith.
ReplyDeleteI started blogging after my breast cancer diagnosis because there were many people connected to me (family, church, homeschooling, co-op). I figured the easiest way for them to stay connected to my journey without feeling like they were bombarding me with phone calls was to start the blog.
Now that I'm done with my treatment I often wonder why I'm still blogging. It's become an outlet for me to express my faith and this journey through life that God has granted me. I rarely have comments on my posts, and those that I get are often from the same 3 people. :) But it doesn't bother me. In many ways, blogging has become therapeutic for me.
As far as 'real' friends go. I make 'real' efforts to do 'real' things with 'real' people as often as I can in this 'real' world that I live. :) God created us to be relational beings.
I suppose there's good and bad in any technology that is created. We just have to choose how we want to use it.
Ooo! Another blog idea! Thanks! :D
ReplyDeleteHey now, I check your blog!
ReplyDeleteI care. ;)
Why do I blog?
Hmm...
1.) I think. A lot.
2.) Thoughts must go somewhere...the people in my life aren't interested in my rants, reposings, and ruminations on everything under the sun...
3.) So thoughts go on blog post,
4.)Where few people are highly interesting in above mentioned writings.
Honestly, there is a lot of passion rattling around in this young lady, particularly in the realm of the Lord, the state of His people....the snares of modern society, the worldliness in His people....and hungering, haunted, loneliness-wrenched people in my nieghborood...the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free around the globe...the glorification of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...all these things build and build in my mind like a pressure cooker, and so it MUST be let out.
When my heart bursts too strongly with an unquenchable longing to help the suffering people, glorify my Lord, and share His truths, it spills out in in passionate speeches and debates to my bookshelf and laptop.
Then it becomes tamed, refined, and polished for my readers.
I have a minimal social life....and the socializing I do rarely calls for an impromptu speech about the number of orphans in the world or the importance of dying to self or the condition of the kids on the Eastside of Indy or the value of absolute emotional purity, or etc., etc.
So I turn to journals, blogs, essays, books, reading and writing, reading and writing, an endless cycle of waiting until I can truly DO what I yearn to DO, until I can truly SPEAK and SHARE as I long to SPEAK and SHARE.
That is why I blog.
For me, it's not a tool of wasting time.
It's a path to harness zeal.
That's my theory. :)
*A
I don't read a whole lot of blogs...the main reason I do read the few that I keep up with is just to stay connected to people (like your lovely self) that I don't really have much of an opportunity to see in "real" life (being 300 miles away at school can put a slight damper on that ;-).
ReplyDeleteJust to get you back for using "the guilt trip" I'm not even going to leave a comment. So there!
ReplyDeleteBen
Betty-at least your daughters read your blog! :-) I know what you mean about getting tired of it. Sometimes I feel that way too, but you're right-it is addictive and getting comments is always fun.
ReplyDeleteDenise-you and James should get together. I think you'd understand each other perfectly.:-)
Decadent-do your sons really read your blog? How do you manage that?!
I hope you don't sign off in the near future-I love your blog.
Michelle-I check your blog often and have been blessed and convicted beyond words by the way you've responded to everything you've gone through in the last year or more. I don't leave comments because quite often I just don't know what to say. It's been a dry year for me emotionally and spiritually....
Mical-all I can say is, I'm glad you find so many ideas for posts over here. :-)
Alex-don't stop blogging. And that's all I'm going to say about that!
Jill-I'm so glad you're "still around!" It's nice to know you're out there and still thinking about us. :-)
I must ask myself that question several times a week. No one in my family even knows I blog, ditto to my friends, except for one that suggested to me that I should do a blog.
ReplyDeleteSo why? Simply because I desire to celebrate and record my life in its dailiness. I am not famous, I am not a dancer, artist, author, or musician. I am by the grace of God a wife, a mother,a homeschooler and a homemaker. I am called and chosen to glorify my LORD JESUS and enjoy Him forever. I love my life.
In answer to your friend's understandable concern....blogging by no means affects real relationships...after all I blog about those people and situations in my life quite often. But it is interesting those we "meet" through blogging and how much their lives parallel ours.