Over the last four months, there has been a wrestling match going on in my mind: To blog or not to blog. I asked myself questions like, “Do I have enough thoughts in my head to share with people?” or “does anyone even care what I think about ______?” The question that I really had to figure out was, “Do I have anything to add to the conversation?”
I have stopped blogging all together largely due to four reasons.
Time Pressure. There is only so much time in one day. We are all responsible for the same 86,400 seconds that are given to us each and everyday. Those seconds will fly by if you are not careful!
Started Seminary. Life took an interesting twist for my family and I this fall. I have started taking classes at Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield PA. I am pursuing my Master’s of Divinity. I will be the first to admit that the last four months have been stressful ones. It has been a time for me to readjust my life, time and priorities. It has been incredible, yet it has been a time of adjustments too.
Feeling Uncreative. No one wants to read a boring blog. I don’t, and I’m sure you don’t either. I was feeling boring. The creative elements were lacking! I did not want to bore you.
Adding to the Noise. Even more than just being uncreative, I did not want to add to the noise in the lives of people. If by un-creatively blogging all I was doing was adding 500 words of jargon and nonsense then I’d rather not do it. There is plenty of noise, plenty of blogs, and books out there that can distract you from your relationship with God/your family/productivity. I don’t need to be one more distraction.
As I started to say, over the last four months I have been wrestling with the idea of what do I have to add right now? Is it time to pick up and start writing again? I have three reasons why I have decided to get back into the discipline of blogging.
A Desire to be Creative. I love being creative. I enjoy creativity of all kinds. However, one of the ways I most enjoy being creative is in the expression and transference of truth. I enjoy expressing truth in non-traditional ways. Blogging often times give me the opportunity to be creative in expressing God’s truth. I share with people frequently, view life through the lens of a parable. When you see life through the lens of a parable all of a sudden truth pops out creatively! I want to be a creator not just a consumer.
A Desire to share what I’m learning. Every week I read tons of pages of information, and I sit through a minimum of 5 hours of class. I write papers, turn them in and about three people read them. Each and every month I pay a huge price tag to do all of this. Believe me I know that my education is a privilege! However, it doesn’t sit right with me to not share what I am learning. It would be an incredible waste of resources if I did not share what I am learning and thinking about.
A Desire to Start Conversations (around the other two points). One of the things that I have enjoyed most in my classes are the conversations that inevitably crop up with other classmates. I love hearing their perspective, life experiences, and thoughts on whatever issue or topic we are discussing. I see this blog as a platform to allow conversations like that to happen. It is not just about the 500 words. It’s the words after the 500.
With these things in mind I invite you to join me in a conversation here. Let’s see where we go!
~Peter