words from me to you.

so, i over complicate things in my head on a regular basis. and in line with this trend i have over complicated blogging over these last 6-8 months since God began to speak to me about writing pretty consistently and taking this here blog more seriously.

some of my thoughts that i had that made this way too complicated were:

1. i'll have to take a writing class and get really serious about grammar and proper usage of the english language. i need to get serious. (i know, right?) i love school and i love to learn, but that's not my point here.

2. if i don't do the above(thought number 1) i will face criticism of all kinds and i don't want to volunteer to be ripped apart.

3. i have to really know my stuff(topics i write about) if i am going to be a writer. and people that really know their stuff will put me in my place if i don't. here's the thing, i just really love accuracy and i respect those who are accurate, those who 'know their stuff'. knowledge impresses me. but that's one of the very things that has kept me so bound up, unable to write and it is pretty much based in fear of man if i am honest with myself, honest with God and now, with all of you.

4. the blog-a-sphere ( i really hope this is a word i made up! i just started calling this whole blog world the 'blog-a-sphere' last week! i'm totally cool if i didn't make it up though...) is a phenomenon to me, the entire concept. i mean, think about it; the entire world can be influenced and impacted through a BOX! (i know, i know, television and radio have been around for ages. but this is different. bear with me as i unpack this.)

 i feel a huge weight when it comes to blogging. and i know that it is right for me to feel this. what i am getting at is the power of the written word; when someone, a person is tucked up with or zoned in to the words that another person has written. there is something really powerful and sobering about this entire idea: books ( all kinds) written by human hands, typed up with such care, the raw stuff of our humanness coming through on a page, the genius of the human intellect, the passion of the human soul and the reasons that drive people to pick up these books, any book, and read through these pages, I mean, they are pretty profound reasons.

they are wanting to connect with another human soul, they are wanting to expand their knowledge and/or experience and a very profound thing occurs when this exchange begins: the reader opens up himself to be effected. i mean, that's why we read anything, right? that's why we have text books, to add knowledge passed down that others have discovered. novels, it is an experience that can expand your imagination and grip your heart and cause you to feel so alive and connected to the characters; the plot becomes your plot. it's intense! self help books and spiritual growth books; the same reasons are their behind every purchase of this kind: to grow and change as a person, to somehow better your life with what you are about to read. there is an expectation. even poetry, hallmark cards, and personal letters all convey human emotion to another human, it is an attempt to speak to someone, straight to someone in a particular place.

(or it is an expression of the deepest part of the soul, maybe written privately without the intentions of future publication, ie, the shadow of the almighty by elizabeth elliot in which she published journal entries and letters from her late husband jim elliot; his words were compelling, full of conviction and i just knew he had a dynamic life in God by reading the words from his very journal. that book changed my life!)

there is something very exciting, almost thrilling, about reading in all of this as well. reading ADDS to the reader. when we read, we are ADDED to.

(by the way, i have not even mentioned the Bible yet!)

okay, i've talked about books, poetry, etc. blogging is that much more personal in my mind. i love getting lost for a good hour or two reading what my friends have written. there is an exhilaration i feel when it comes to keeping up with my friends lives. i love it. but then i also spend time on the pages of COMPLETE STRANGERS!  this is where blogging trips me up; it is so far reaching! it can be so influential! and universal! it's used for everything; an emotional outlet, a social arena, a D-I-Y forum, ministries have them, people in ministry have them, authors have them. it is all so bizarre. i mean, people with a bazillion hits are like famous in my mind in the blog-a-sphere; it is a world of potential.

the truth is that in all of my over-thinking of this whole process, i believe i have learned a lot. and i believe God wants to use me and that pretty much trumps my excuses not to do this.

i hope you are envisioned for things in your pursuits in writing as well. let's step out together.



bethany belisa