I was reading a post this morning written by my BFF Tiff and it got me to thinking.
She and I have shared our "scrapbook memories" via our blogposts for more than 8 years now. It has been a safe place for us to compile treasured moments that our close friends and family could see with the click of a button. It is a technological marvel that allows a sense of closeness over very long distances; a sense of connectedness without being in actual proximity. The posts arrive quicker than a letter and come to life on the screen in vivid color pictures and even short videos.
It doesn't have to be available to all 300+ (or whatever number) of our facebook "friends". (yes, I have a love/hate thing going on with the whole "facebook thing" but that's a whole other topic)
With my blog I know I personally have struggled with the question of "am I being real about my life with the stuff I post?"
I know this much to be true: We don't have to share the hurt, heartache, disappointments, failures, fears, trials and other ugly things of life in this place in order to be real, authentic or true with one another.
We can pick up the phone or get together in person and share the nitty-gritty stuff, talk all night, pray it through and love one another in the midst of those things. It doesn't have to be on permanent record out in cyber-space. Here is a place to rejoice in the blessings and highlights. Not for bragging rights. It is for praising the God from whom all blessings flow. It is for sharing the beauty, the fun, the silly, the love with the ones we care about. None of the good in our lives would be possible in and through ourselves. (but the bad stuff sure would)
Yes, there are absolutely ups and downs. There is awful stuff that we have to go through and deal with. Life can hurt. We can feel bad. Days can go all wrong. Kids can misbehave. Spouses can disappoint. Arguments can drag us down. We can try and fail, and fail, and fail again. But those are not the times I want to dwell on. I want to thank God for those times because in each and every one I can make the choice to learn something, to grow stronger, to seek wisdom, to pursue peace, to hold on to hope, to believe and to keep pressing forward. I can turn my eyes away from whatever is pulling me under and fix my eyes on Jesus. I am thankful for the rollercoaster of life. But I choose to focus most of my blog posts on the ups & the snapshots of the blessings, because every "down" allows me to rejoice all the more in the next "up".
I love you Tiff. Thanks for keeping it real and getting me started on blogging along with you all those years ago. Reaching out to give you a hug right now.
I love you too Jack. ;)
ReplyDeleteI love my blog because it's a journal for me. It's a way to relish the good times over and over. It's a way to remember little things I wouldn't otherwise. And it will be a lasting witness of who I was, who I am, who I love, and where I've been long after I'm gone. It's going to be a way for my grandkids to know me intimately...for my great grandkids to laugh at my silly jokes or roll their eyes at my stupid stories.
And that is why, every now and then, I NEED to keep it real. I NEED to write something I'm struggling with or that sucks in my life, because I don't want anyone, present or future, to think I have no JUNK, no shortcomings, no stress, no negatives. I want to remember all the good and STRESS all the good. But I really need to also remember the bad....because the good doesn't feel as good without the bad, right?
Well said. I totally agree. I guess there are times that personal insecurities, fear of what people will think or say, or fear of hurting someone I love prevents me from sharing certain struggles or real life circumstances. For some of those things I may write in a private journal or not at all. For some/most of my internal struggles though I just have to take it directly to God. Under the right circumstances when those things could be used to encourage someone else I could share in conversation but some stuff I just don't know if I would ever want to put online. I guess that was my central line of thinking....what to write online and what to save for a different way of sharing. Either way, I agree. I, like you, need to keep it real but in a way that also allows me to be the private person that I am....which I guess is a funny thing to say coming from a person who has multiple blogs and a facebook account. Ah well. It is what it is.
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