Day one-hundred-eighty-seven

I like these three-day weekends. You get the extra day, but they don't go on too long. When I was out sick from work a few weeks ago, it took a while to readjust to my usual schedule.

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I don't know why but I've had this page open for over an hour trying to think about what I should write. Nothing has been immediately jumping to mind. Therefore, I think today I'll say a few words about why I write, or perhaps a better way to put it, what I get out of writing.

When I started this blog last January, one early key decision was to post on a daily basis. I realized that if I didn't post so frequently, my own natural tendency would be to put it off until later, whatever time "later" may be. Eventually, I'd put it off long enough that I'd stop writing altogether, or at the very least, that was my concern. I've have to be disciplined to sit down, pray about what I'm going to write, and then actually write it down. Developing the discipline to start this blog and to have kept it going is pretty encouraging when I stop to think about it. In the 187 days of the year thus far, I've only neglected to post an entry once. There were some times when I was nearly late, but only one miss in 187 days is not bad.

I have also found that in putting pen to paper (or rather, thumbs to touchscreen), I've found myself sorting out ideas or thoughts I've had, but have struggled to understand. There have been a number of occasions where, in trying to write about a particular issue in a clear and understandable manner, I've had moments of realization. Maybe it's just something becoming clear in the moment. Maybe it's God just choosing to make something clear to me in that moment, usually in regards to a biblical issue I'm struggling to understand. Whatever the case may be, writing forces me to stop and think, and listen .

This blog is also allowed me to open up about myself in a way that I've never done before. I've always been a fairly private, taciturn person, but before I was saved, I was aloof and standoffish. I didn't want to have anything to do with anyone else and I wanted everyone else to leave me alone. God let me have what I wanted, and all I had to show for it was loneliness, misery, and a lot of wasted years. After I got saved, I began to reach out to others and to be more willing to share about myself. The blog, perhaps even more so, has allowed me to become more personal in what I'm willing to share. Part of it may be that "distance" between writer and reader, but I think it's also because I'm just better able to say what I need to say when I can write it out. I'm not terribly good at expressing myself orally, though I'm trying to get better at it.

I pray that what I write here glorifies The Lord, and that it may, in some way, be an encouragement to those who read it.