I wanted an answer. To a question I should have asked four years ago, before I started blogging: “Should I be doing this?”
I asked the LORD for clarity, for definite yes or no. And I took some time off blogging, because its very doing was only muddying the mental waters…
Restless, I went to get the mail…
And the weather swept pleasant across my face, and leaves rattled happy along the gravel. So as mailbox metal echoed hollow behind me from its closing, I kept on walking, post in hand, on down the road, to stretch the limbs and breathe the leaf-pungent air and clear the closed-in head.
I slapped the big manila envelope against my thigh (I don’t know why. Exuberance? To chase away any bears?) and suddenly the shadowy underbrush to my right exploded in multiple crashes and snaps. My heart suddenly racing, I fanned the blush from my face. Clearly the resident doe and her fawns were hanging out in there again.
But I didn’t break stride. I’d saunter on down to the next neighbor’s house, then turn and walk back. Food need thawing for dinner.
But I wasn’t thinking much of dinner. Only of Husband’s focus-shifting question:
“Well, what do you know God does want you to do?”
That question rolled round and round in my mind now, on my return, as I approached our neighbor’s sign, planted prominent in his field, for all the passing world to read. Footstep after footstep seemed to emphasize in rhythm the billboard’s words…
Hm. Well, that was one thing I could do that I knew God wanted. Go back to the house and settle in and read. A Gospel. Of… Matthew!
How sweet and light-filled it was to sit on the porch and read the first six chapters—read and “think about it,” see what insights and principles therein might apply to my question…
There was Jesus’ example in His earthly life. There was His teaching, in the Sermon on the Mount…
There was John the Baptist.
There were the Disciples Jesus called—and the way He called them…
There were the crowds and the Pharisees…
There was…
a lot!
And so began some headwork, viewing blogging through a Matthew lens. Later I would be looking in my beat-up King James for something in Proverbs, and notice all the fuschia highlighting, and remember I’d marked everything there about tongue, lips, mouth, or words. So I would read my way through all of those, too, and consider what applied to “speaking” through a blog.
Later would come James’ Epistle…
And a little book I would “just happen to” pick up at an opportune time…
My big answer was slow in coming (would it ever arrive?) but did I ever get lots of insights! And many (ooh, many!) addressed the dangers of tongue, words, and… well, shall we say, therefore blogs…?
A lot of good instruction to OBEY.
[In striving to draw C-L-O-S-E-R to the Lord, C is for Call (on Him), L is for Look to Him and Listen to Him. Listening without Obeying what He commands is fake religion, and O is the next letter in my acronym… Obviously “Obey.”]
*****
Linked to
My reading yesterday was in Colossians chapter 3 first about relationships and then about doing all things heartily as unto the Lord. All things.
Colossians 3:17
Amplified Bible (AMP)
17 And whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in [dependence upon] His Person, giving praise to God the Father through Him.
22 Servants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not only when their eyes are on you as pleasers of men, but in simplicity of purpose [with all your heart] because of your reverence for the Lord and as a sincere expression of your devotion to Him.
23 Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily (from the soul), as [something done] for the Lord and not for men,…
as a sincere expression of your reverence for the Lord…
Yes, Laurie! ALL things. What is more important than what we choose as a general occupation or ministry or project or whatever, is the spirit in which we do all that we have before us. “Whatever your task”: this wording reminds me of the things I already KNOW are my tasks. (And they’re the things I’m most likely to disdain and neglect!)
Col 3:23 has specifically been speaking to me lately as I’ve been aiming to get my bearings right. Thanks for this translation’s insights. You and I seem to be turning the same pages at the same time.
God bless.
I read this following this morning in the UCB Word for Today Bible notes:
…”You must commit yourself to doing His will! And that includes your time, your talent, your treasure, your body, your mind, your spirit, and your all. God wants ‘total commitment.”
So glad you are using your writing talent and the treasure you draw forth from God’s Word.
Thank you for being such an encouragement to me Sylvia.
Wendy
Wendy,
Those Bible notes make another “coincidence”! Thanks for sharing them. Your comment means much to me. *You* encourage *me*! God bless as you move forward!
Hi Sylvia,
Lovely photos…I think it is wise that you are asking God…whenever I ask God, and I am truly open to His leading, He shows me …I’m learning it is also okay to consider how He made me, just as He made the trees for a purpose, and whether I sense His joy when I blog…which I do…but I also need Him to refine me so I am writing for the right purposes: to point to Him…Blessings, Sylvia…appreciate your thoughts 🙂
It amazes me how He manages to answer us (in so many different ways) when all we have to do is simply ask and seek…
Love this C-L-O-S-E-R idea…so glad you stopped by so I knew you were back and should visit! (I’m so far behind in my blog reading!)
That “truly open to His leading” part is key, isn’t it, Dolly? It can be hard (for me) to put self with all its drives and desires and “great ideas” aside and just wait on Him to show the way. But the reward is worth it, isn’t it? And I like what you said about seeing if you “sense His joy.” I think I’m doing this more, too.
So glad you stopped by and left this comment!
Hi Nikki,
I stand in awe of how He answers, too. That He bothers is enough to bowl me over.
Nice to “see you” back here again. God bless.
Sylvia–it was so nice to take a ‘walk’ with you and to read these encouraging words. I look forward to ‘O’ for Obey, that freedom bringing word….
Jody,
That’s interesting, that you called “obey” a freedom bringing word. I think so, too! But I don’t think there are millions of people who would agree with us!
Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving this comment.
Thanks for sharing how the Lord has been speaking to you recently. Great acronym! Thanks for linking with WIP!
Mary Beth,
I corrected your name. I was puzzled as to why I needed to approve it. Must have been some runaway keyboard keys!
Thanks for stopping to comment — and for your good linkup at WIP.
I have no idea why that last comment says I’m Mary Bethently…
Sylvia,
Selfishly, on my part, if the only reason you were blogging was to help me through the past year, then you certainly should have been blogging! That’s my thought on the subject. You have a gift for scholarly pursuit that is hard to get these days.
I really appreciate you,
Dawn
Dawn,
You know, I think you’ve hit a very important point here. We think numbers, but Jesus thought one sheep. I think once we start connecting in blog communities, we are likely to develop fellowship in the Lord that we need to maintain, even if it’s with only one person. During my hiatus, one of those days I lay flat out sick, He gave me a very simple but memorable living lesson on just this kind of thing (I hope to share it in a post soon). I find your comment very moving, heartwarming, encouraging. I really appreciate you, too! May your day tomorrow be especially blessed in Him.