I don’t know how many of you readers are also bloggers, but I think you all will agree that blogging is a brutal discipline. It’s tough to keep up with writing blog posts all the time and even tougher to keep up with reading others’ blog posts. And I find myself falling behind more and more lately.
When I first starting blogging more than two years ago I was confined at home and totally off my foot so couldn’t do anything else but sit somewhere so I chose to sit here in front of my trusty computer and to blog, both writing wise and reading wise. But now that my health is holding it’s own and we’re in the middle of building this house I don’t have the time to spend blogging. And this bothers me a lot because I enjoy writing and reading others’ blogs. I learn a lot and have made a lot of friends.
When you consider the discipline it takes to keep up with writing a blog all the time it’s really amazing that so many people do it! Absolutely amazing! It makes you wonder if they are as disciplined in the rest of their lives as they are about blogging.
I just wonder how many of us are as disciplined in our Christian lives.
Something to think about today. What do you think? . . . Comment and share your thoughts on disciplined blogging and disciplined Christianity.
Cheers! & Blessings to you each today! Dee
I agree. Blogging can be demanding. As you know, Dee, I’ve written about this kind of thing on my blog a couple of different times.
Back in December, after a long dry spell, I became frustrated by my inability to keep up. I came to a place where I needed to make a choice, either quit blogging or blog differently. I chose to blog differently.
I’m not sure, yet, whether or not I’ve found the right rhythm, but I’m still posting entries every couple of days, even if the entries are short and sometimes loaded with allusions to items deemed “not interesting†to a vast majority of other people. The entries are, at least, interesting to me and comprise a way to throw out historical markers that can be referenced later.
I’ve taken to the idea of blogging as a kind of spiritual discipline. When something that was once easy becomes difficult, we stand humbled, empty. In a curious way, though, humbled and empty ‘aint such a bad thing.
Dee,
I am fairly new to the blogging world. I think it would be very easy to get so caught up in the blogworld that we substitute it for real human contact, for ministry. When I started my blog back in October, I decided I wanted a place to journal my daily devotions. I have been tempted many times to stray to a more casual chatty type blog but have reminded myself that this is part of my spiritual discipline. When I lived in Nebraska several of us had daily devos together. They were very similar to what I post in my blog. I wanted to keep that spirit.
My posts are a part of my daily time with God, along with prayer, scripture and meditation.
My comments on other posts, are part of my free time. I try to be encouraging and uplifting in my comments too but if I don’t have time to post or even read other blogs, I just dont
Sorry this is so long and rambling.
Peace
Neva
OUCH. Please get off my toes, Dee! I struggle with this. I find it much easier to spend time reading blogs and writing stupid stuff of my own than to spend concentrated time in prayer or Bible study. I have just the opposite problem as Neva. My blog has been the casual chatty type for so long that I don’t know how to convert it to something more spiritual. And I do know that my blog interactions are definitely a substitute for real human contact… simply because I don’t get much of it outside of my own family. Blogchurch, don’t ya know?
So now that’s out in the open, what do I do with it??
Thanks Ray, Neva & Karen for your thoughts.
For me, blogging definitely is a spiritual discipline (Neva) and I think it is for a lot of Christians no matter what they may write “about” on their blogs (Karen).
I say that, at least for myself, because I have found that by opening up my life to the world and being honest about how my life is going others relate to that and there is, indeed, even in this cyberworld a connection made that would not otherwise be made. And I think that is good.
Some of us, indeed, do not have those connections around us in the “real” world, Karen, and must find those connections where we can in a place where we can be encouraged by others. That’s what I try to do foremost, no matter what I write or comment about, to encourage. Sometimes it is with humor and other times totally seriously. Even the mundane things of life can take on significance if shared with others and conceded to. Sometimes things in this life ARE very mundane and must be lived with and/or endured, which is part of our spiritual discipline, too, I think.
Life is rarely, if ever, easy and we must find friends and comfort and encouragement where we can, even if in blogland. I know that for me, when I was really down and out, it was a tremendous blessing for me and that continues to this day, even when things in my life are going much better.
I don’t know about you guys, but I need all the help I can get and blogging is one great big help! Any more whether I’m actually sitting here writing or reading, blogging is a huge part of my life (Karen), but I think that’s okay, you know?! I’ve found big blessings in blogging and intend to keep it up for as long as I can see into the future at this point.
In fact, like Mike Cope blogged about just a couple of days ago, we all need to get together in one big room and just sit and drink coffee and share our stories with one another getting to know each other better!
We’re “fixin’ to” have a big screened in back porch and deck with comfortable chairs on both, so y’all all plan to pack your bags and come for a visit here with me & Tom and sit a spell, ya hear?!
Dee
You are right on in this post Dee. Like everyone else, I too feel the tug to keep my blog updated and fresh, but as you noted, it- like life- is not always easy. But when we can be blessed with blogs like yours and others- we know it is worth it!
for me,
disciplined blogging often equals undisciplined christianity…
i haven’t been very disciplined , with the to 2 of them,
and don’t think ,it will get any better any time soon
Many thanks to you, Dee, for this post, and to the others for their thoughtful comments. Why do I blog, and what are blogs good for? I’ve turned those kinds of questions over in my own mind a few times. Here are a few things I’ve come up with:
1. I started blogging because I want to be a decent writer, because writers learn how to write by writing, and because my blog makes me feel accountable to someone and something. If I don’t try to write and polish something to post at my blog, at least a few people are going to notice and say, “What’s up?”
2. At my blog, the frequency of posts is effected by (a) weather (b) how I feel physically and spiritually (c) how much I’m reading and the quality of what I’m reading, etc. etc. But it’s something that I want to do, and I find myself thinking about it quite often.
3. As some have mentioned, I also think that blogging could be toxic to a person’s real discipleship. Our New Testament class just finished walking through 2 Corinthians, where Paul has to battle with “superlative apostles” who, he admits, look better and preach better than he does. But Paul insists that his opponents have missed something; they don’t want to have anything to do with the human weakness by which God truly reveals His sovereignty and power. I’ll speak for myself. When I blog, I don’t want to seem as weak as I am. To sensitive souls who have never been preachers, I can guarantee that this is something that turns your reflective preacher inside out. To “succeed” in ministry, he has to look and sound good; but he knows enough gospel to realize that’s not the way it’s supposed to work. What to do?
Anyway, I think the reason that so many of us like your blog and feel like we know you, even though we’ve never met, is because you’re not afraid or ashamed to be “weak” by worldly standards. God bless you for that! You’re a good example.
Try keeping three blogs in the air! Between my Hidden People series, the online novel (now finished), a new novel (not begun yet), and my Tentpegs blog, I have enough to do online. Oh, and that church of 1200+ keeps me a little busy sometimes.
I often wonder: for a guy who only works one day a week, why am I always so tired?