The Shadow of Your Wings

I, like many of you, have been told for years that I should “write a book.” Truth is, I have neither the interest nor the energy to tackle such an endeavor - publishers, editors, writes and rewrites; no thanks. Besides, I can barely keep my thoughts focused for the length of a letter, much less a whole book!

I do keep journals. Have a box full of them that I’ve scribbled off and on for decades tucked away in a closet. Reading them is a lot like riding a huge roller coaster as they chronicle my ups, my downs, my loopity loops. I’ve always had it in my mind that there would come a day when they would be handed over to the children, preferably posthumously. (One of my daughters asked me recently, after she’d pored through these posts, when they would get to read the “personal” stuff - to which I replied, “After the last ‘Amen.’”) The journals are the real stuff - raw, edgy, sometimes angry, often pain-filled. “Personal.” But there are things written there that I could share with my kids (and friends) now - things that might help them know God, or even me. That’s why I started “blogging.”

While I was still mulling the thought of going “public” I read my sister’s post in which she shared an observation about blogs and the writers. Having read more than a few prior to beginning her own “gratefulblog,” she found that “some want a place to vent their complaints (a mad diary, if you will), some are to spotlight their brilliance/creativity/cleverness, some are to extol their wit in describing oddities around them, some are just honest revelations of life experiences.” I don’t think that she did any reading in this particular site or she would have surely included “some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,”.

I knew, when I finally decided to try this “business” out for myself, which of these I would be. As I read the “writes” posted on this site it is always curious to me to find which of the “some” you are, and to realize that we really do tend to fall into at least one of these categories. (Now, of course, you will read each offering with the same curiosity. Perhaps you will even discover how your writing reflects one of these “types.”)

Whatever our reason for blogging we have each chosen to post here, on a site dedicated to the glory of Christ Jesus. Whether we just need a place to “vent,” to express our creativity or wit, or an opportunity to share honest revelation, our hearts and writing should always be to honor Christ, and in Him, others. We, by grace, are of the “some.”

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. … And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; … from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:7,11-13,16 NKJ

As others come to this site I pray that they will find us extolling the Lord Jesus, working effectively to equip and edify one another in love, in unity, and in His grace.

Write on, beloved!