Sunday, July 20, 2008

The Beauty of Blogging

I fear sounding like a crazy person, but I must tell you. Blogging has changed my life. I mean, do you realize what blogs have done? I have been connected in the past year with people who I have never met in person but have given me some pretty amazing inspiration in so many areas of my life.

Have you realized that there is a blog for about every topic under the sun? Sadly, mine is just an eclectic mess, but it's who I am, what can I say? But I digress......

My first blog connections were mostly related to religious and spiritual journeys. These have inspired me in amazing ways and I still find them to be some of my favorites. I have even learned that some of my friends should really consider writing professionally. There are some gifted writers in this world and I have discovered that God is sure using the blogosphere for his glory!

I have also been able to keep up with family in friends in a deep and personal way. Where else but blogland can you find out what your cousin in Tennessee did this weekend, how her family felt about it, and see pictures at the same time. And all in the comfort of your own home without having to talk on the phone while your children try to rip off your clothing, try to change their own dirty diaper, and squirt toothpaste all over your bathroom floor. (Yes, this is what happens when I talk on the phone...)

My favorite new found blogs even have FASHION and DECORATING tips! How fabulous is that? I even found out tonight that you can hem a pair of jeans and actually keep the original hem intact! Can you believe that? Why hasn't this shorty heard of that before?


My favorite recent outcome of blogs has been our girls Bible study group that was formed through the inspiration of the LPM bloggers (or siestas). I don't know that the four of us would have ever hooked up for Bible study without it and we are able to share and learn so much about each other through blogging.

Speaking of Bible study, I haven't posted a complete summary, but, in a nutshell, we learned a lot, we ate a lot, we talked a lot, and we cried a little. It was an emotional night.

The thing that struck me most, was in Genesis 30 concerning the story of Rachel and Leah. This is what Kelly says in the book:

For Rachel, the idol of having children was so strong that it functioned as her life. Without them, she didn't want to live, so she had to do whatever it took to get children. They had become the "ultimate" thing, and people will do far crazier things when something threatens their ultimate thing......

.......We no longer need to be controlled by our cravings and lusts. We are no longer bound to jealousy and revenge and bitterness when something is taken from us, when we are mistreated, or when we experience loss. Why? Because Jesus Christ shows the incomparable riches of his grace to us along with His kindness. He becomes our ultimate thing, and the far lesser things that are threatened or compromised are nothing to be compared to who He is and what He can do for us.

It is rather contradictory to me to think that Rachel's desire for children was an idol. Children are wonderful, right? They are beautiful asset to our lives that God desires for us, right? But even though what she wanted was "good" it had overtaken her. Overtaken her to the point that she was desperate. How many times have we let our desires overcome our lives and the hope we have in Him? And, how many times have we led ourselves to believe that God would want us to become so wrapped up in it because it is surely something He wants for us. New jobs, children as in Rachel's case, a "better" church to worship, money...........

The beautiful thing about it is, however, that we can draw closer to Him when we realize that we may not get what we want. In our despair, we know that He is there and will comfort us. He knows we won't always understand and I believe he will ease our burden when we are disappointed.

So I must finish this now. I've been inspired to great things. If I could only just spend less time on the computer reading blogs.

Like I said "eclectic mess". Sorry......

3 comments:

Kristi said...

So many deep things I could comment on, but my favorite was when you referred to yourself as "shorty." I know you meant that in the vertically-challenged sense, but all I could think was "shorty got low, low, low, low..."

Amanda said...

I love this post! I'm glad I'm not the only one whose life has been changed by blogs. I've just never been brave enough to say it! Thanks for saying it for all of us closet blogger addicts. Why should we be ashamed of that? So, our houses are messy and our children sometimes feel the need to go to great extremes to compete for attention against the computer, but we're changing lives here! It's important stuff!

Anyway, thanks for the writing compliment. Oh, I've always wanted to write a book. Maybe someday I'll have something worth writing about that could fill a couple hundred pages. Maybe, I don't really want that something.....it sounds painful.

See you Wednesday :-( Wear your "leaping" shoes.

Andrea Allen said...

What a great post! I'm sad that I'm just now reading it. I am starting to understand Rachel on a very deep level. Thank you for sharing this post with your blog friends.