Thursday, November 11, 2010

Writing..........

11. The ability to write here.

The question has to be though, what do I write, and why. There is a great deal of power attached to the written word, and the responsibility here at RCR is mine. Do I write for my own pleasure? Or do I write to communicate with you, who come over to read. Do I share just the triumphs? Or do I expose the trials and failures, and pain? What? Why? How?

Ann is a blogging friend with a wonderful heart, and a way of making me stop in my tracks and think seriously about what I write and why. If you haven't met her before, please go and read her post on writing. It is still swirling around in my mind many hours after first reading it. I know some of my blogging friends are feeling the same. Powerful just does not begin to describe it.

I am eternally grateful for all the wonderful friends I have made here. It is a delight for me, and a feeling of being in a family scattered all over the world. I love being here. Who knew, when I started tentatively all those years ago, that I would find myself bound together with women from so many countries and cultures - and some men too - all through the little words my fingers are putting up on the screen here. Amazing.

It feels good to be here. It feels right. But each of us has to decide exactly how we use this medium. None of us is perfect. We all yell and have days when we just can't cope with any more, and I keep thinking of Ann's duck story, and how I nearly wept when I read it. The meaning is so incredibly profound and moving, and I think of all the times I could have done things differently, and then I get a huge lump in my throat, and wonder why I didn't know........

Ah.... (deep breath)........

Just so you know, like each of your lives, mine is full of difficult things. I am not floating along here in a fuzzy pink haze of perfection. I have been facing more challenges than I ever thought possible to endure that I have not talked about. Yet I survive. And what Ann talks about is how just actually sharing the reality of the difficult times could actually help someone else. Perhaps. I need to think about that.

Between us all, there has to be the full gamut of catastrophes and nightmares. But we still wake every morning, don't we. We keep plodding on. I know there are days when I happen to read a random post somewhere which seems to be written just for me. And it helps. Yet so often I can't even post a comment to say thank you. So whoever wrote that something which touched me, may never know how much it meant to me.

And so I know that there must be people out there who feel the same about some things I may say, and yet I don't know.

I am so thankful that I started blogging. I am so thankful that I met you all. I am so thankful that I am being challenged to give more, be more, do more...... I am learning as I go. I am so thankful that together we have become a body which helps each other in times of need. I am in awe of how many children around the world have been sponsored just because of this blogging community. Lives are being changed, and all because we all started writing. And speaking of writing, tomorrow is the second Friday of the month, and all Compassion sponsors are being urged to make this the day we all write to our children. So if you have a sponsored child, please consider writing to him or her tomorrow, and join the hundreds of others doing so!

I am so thankful that each of us had the courage to start writing. And most of all, I am so thankful for each and every one of you who is reading this. You are friends.

5 comments:

Crystal said...

Between the wisdom of you and Ann, I am compelled to make my blog writing straight from the heart. You must know, dear friend, how often your words touch me and seem like they were written right to me. This blogging has been an amazingly wonderful addition to my life. ((( HUGS )))

Linda said...

It has taken me time to come full circle back to why I originally began to blog. Ann summed it up for me very well. The beginning for me was a desire to somehow use my very humble writing to serve the Lord.
Then I got all caught up in the "numbers thing" and my blog became something different.
Some time ago I just knew I couldn't keep up the trying to keep up. I prayed about whether to even continue and felt that I simply needed to get back to basics.
It is what draws me to the blogs I love - like yours. Real people, sharing their faith and hearts and everyday lives - encouraging and praying and laughing and crying. it's what keeps me doing this amazing, wonderful thing.

Janine said...

We're thankful for you too. :-)

Olson Family said...

Dear Linds - thank you so much for sharing this and for sharing the link to Ann's post. She says it so well. I started our blog to keep in touch and it turned into something completely different than I expected. Will be sharing that link myself - it will encourage some of my other blogging friends at home. S

Dawn said...

I'm on my way over to Ann's place. What a less wonderful place this would be if we hadn't discovered each other over the years. Many friends have dropped out of sight, some have gone only to Facebook, but I am so thankful for this venue for my thoughts and feelings. I love the writing of so many of our friends. I feel like mine is just so often rambling, but it more or less my journal and hope it will still be there when I'm really old and have time to read it all again!