We’re beginning a new series, Read My Writing, which will take us through to the end of the year. It will look different each week. By featuring someone's writing from the blogroll weekly, we will discuss and give feedback to an element—topic, style, genre—of her writing. It is my hope that this will begin to feel like a writers group where iron can sharpen iron and friends can encourage one another.
Suzanne is our first featured writer. There's a header on her blog that caught my eye: "What For." With curiosity aroused, I clicked through. Here's what she posted.
What For?
by Suzanne @ www.suz-mae.com
I write for the delight it is to put my day into words and photographs. My kids. My husband. My experiences. My thoughts. The things we do. The stuff I cook. Things change for me when they go from swirling around in my over-stimulated multi-tasking head to being typed in black and white 'Georgia' font on my screen. Things become clearer. I get perspective. I see God more. I appreciate more. I see more beauty. I have more joy.
I write for my children. I want my kids to know that caring for them and their father every day is one of the most important, the most rewarding, the most special thing I have ever done. And that their stories, our stories as we build this life together are worth recording, archiving, reading and re-reading. Daily they each hear me say "You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me." I mean it. I mean it with my whole heart and this blog proves it.
I want them to be able to picture their childhoods abroad and at home. I want them to know the adventures they went on. I want them to know that they were a part of something much bigger than themselves. I want them to be able to read my words and feel the joy they have brought to me every step of the journey through those words. I want them to know that their Mama loves them more than life itself and that I take joy in their every accomplishment. But also that I struggle, I share, I laugh, I think, I cry and I write about it all.
I write for my sixty-year-old self. I want to remember all these beautiful moments in our life as a family learning, loving, living together. The good, the bad, the hysterical and the heart-melting moments. I don't want to forget a thing.
I write because my kiddies' grandparents, aunties and uncles are half a world away. We miss them. They miss us. I want my words and photos to bring us a bit closer.
I write for Jesus, that He would be glorified in my life and in my writing.
This blog is just me living life. Walking it out. Cooking stuff. Learning to hear God. Raising my little blessings. Attempting to do the right thing. Making people laugh. Trying to be Holy. It's me creating, processing, thinking. This is my life, my heart, my journey.
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Thanks, Suzanne, for letting us see your "What For's." Now, writers, what about the rest of you? Please articulate [in the comment section] a few reasons you write your blog, your journal, your stories. We'd love to read your writing.
8 comments:
This is a great project idea, Cindy. I look forward to following it.
Suzanne, I've seen your blog before, so I enjoyed reading your reasons.
My reasons for blogging are:
1. To have a creative outlet totally different from other things I do.
2. To be able to share bits of my life, my stories and what God is teaching me.
3. Blogging represents writing in bite sized chunks for me.
Suzanne, bless your heart! It's in the right place! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. It's full of inspiration.
My reason for blogging is to encourage people to write their stories, based on several Bible verses that say we're to tell our kids and grandkids about the things we've seen God do in and for and through us.
Our stories are important, entrusted to us by God, and we have stories only we can tell. They can serve as an anchor for future generations, help them know their place in their family and the family of God. Our stories can encourage future generations to put their faith in God, and like Suzanne said, "to know that they were a part of something much bigger than themselves."
I look at writing our God-stories as a ministry, way beyond a hobby.
I look forward to reading other's respnses.
Linda
Loved this! Looks like a great blog, Suzanne!
Why I blog:
- to speak up, find my voice. I grew up extremely shy and having difficulty expressing myself. Though God has morphed me incredibly over the years into a more social person, blogging helps others get to know me and what I'm about.
- to enlighten. During itineration, I couldn't believe the simple questions church ladies and pastor's wives would ask me. They were clueless about ministry on the mission field (vs. back home). My blog was a way to communicate to them. (thus my title "Musings of a Missionary Mom".)
- to practice the call to write. It was a specific moment when I sensed Him speak, and I gave the typical "who, me?" response. I didn't want to, didn't know how, and looked around to make sure it wasn't someone else (qualified) He was talking to. God loves taking me out of my comfort zone and stretching me. So while my hubby is busy preaching in pulpits, I am learning to "preach with the pen".
- to keep my sanity. Lord Byron said, "If I don't write, I go mad." Through the years of missionary living filled with stress, rejection, loneliness, etc., writing has been a relief. Most of it is done in my personal journal, between God and me.
Suzanne, I love reading your blog; it always makes me smile.
My reason for blogging on my main blog is to keep people updated on what I'm doing as far as ministry. I know people are praying for me each day, and I like to be able to give them specific praise and prayer requests.
I also blog here*. The reason for this blog is to share the real me, to put into words the parts of my life that I'm not ready for everyone at home to read.
*Feel free to read this blog, but I ask that it not be posted on the blogroll. It's definitely more personal but still related to life on the mission field.(http://continualtransition.wordpress.com)
Suzanne, I always enjoy reading your blog. Your words inspire me!
I began blogging because my son dared me to start a blog. I fell in love with the medium and have since discovered several reasons to continue blogging.
I wanted to write our family stories, so that our kids could look back and see how God has worked in our lives as we have ministered overseas.
Writing has always been an interest of mine, and blogging gives me an outlet to improve my writing skills.
Blogging is a creative outlet for me. I also love to encourage people and make them laugh!
I began blogging as a communication tool for our supporters on the internet that was fresher than a website, but my main goal was to help people see how ordinary a missionary's life was. My blog is called, "on the edge of ordinary" because ironically, even though our lives aren't extraordinary, it doesn't matter where we live now, we are really are not quite the "normal"!
It has also become a daily exercise in writing, a place to practise and improve.
Its usefulness as a communication tool became even greater during the natural disaster crisis Japan experienced in March.
I've also found it to be a tool for encouraging others. It is amazing to me the results of what I've shared here. Networking opportunities, new supporters, a mum's support group here in our local area etc.
I write because that's how I process things. If I can't write (or talk) something out, I normally can't think it through properly. A lot of my writing is just thinking out loud. I also write because I really enjoy it! It's relaxing for me and something I wish I could do more often. I write on our ministry blog (separate from my personal blog) to keep people informed. I write to let out my frustrations and because in a way it makes me feel "heard" in a world where most of the time I feel my voice is rarely listened to.
-Lisa
THANK YOU for the challenge, Suzanne, in your statement,"I write for Jesus." i need to make sure that's my ultimate goal, too.
my reasons for blogging are:
1)to give our family and friends a window into our lives, even though we are far away
2)to dispel some of the mystery of life overseas, praying that someone else might be encouraged to serve similarly!
3)as a sort of family scrapbook, to record these amazing memories that would otherwise be forgotten
4)as a place of accountability for me, where i process my responses to life knowing that others will be impacted by what i write, and feeling responsible to make sure i'm pointing readers toward Christ
-barbara
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