To Blog or Not to Blog...

That has been the question for many months now. I thought I had decided against it. After all, I’m not particularly insightful or witty. I don’t have any particular skill. And while I’m not exactly a technophobe, neither am I enthralled with technology. Generally, I only learn that which I deem to be necessary, and let’s face it, a personal blog for a rather ordinary individual is hardly necessary! So just figuring out how to do it was a big hurdle for me to jump (even though, yes, it is pretty easy!).

Then I read this by Bruce Reyes-Chow, and I decided to jump.

Reyes-Chow approaches blogging as a spiritual discipline – that’s a challenging and surprisingly inviting idea to me. I say "surprisingly" because writing is something I usually avoid, and typically I am more comfortable outside of community than inside of it. I am not in any real position of leadership (except, possibly, as a mom, and sometimes I’m not sure who’s leading who in that relationship!), and speaking up is not something I do easily. I’m much more likely to be a blog lurker than a commenter.   Heck, I agonize over even the simplest facebook updates.  Finding the right words can be difficult for me.

So why should I blog? Because sometimes I do actually have something to say. I was reminded of this when given the chance to speak for a few minutes during worship on Mother’s Day. I think I had forgotten that there might be someone other than my husband, parents and close friends who might care about what I say. At the very least, blogging gives me an outlet for the words that tumble around in my head, whether anyone else pays attention to them or not (and the “starting a blog” advice I read suggests I should assume no one will pay attention!).

So why should I blog? Because writing something out helps ME to pay attention. My life is pretty ordinary – I go to work, I cook, I sometimes clean, I spend time with children, I hopefully spend time with my husband, I go to church, I watch TV, I occasionally sew, I sleep. It’s easy to roll with the day-to-day flow without paying much attention to the gift that God has given me – my own life and the life that teems all around me.

So I’m hoping that blogging will be a spiritual discipline for me – a way to notice and reflect. A way to connect with far-off friends and family though a little more than facebook status updates. A way to document a bit of life for my kids. Maybe even a way to connect with online community. But mostly I decided to attempt this blog thing as a reminder to myself to pay attention to this bright life.