A Year Later

Most other places in the world, today is just July 15th. At Sojourner's Song, it's New Years.

One year ago, I composed and uploaded my first post, hardly knowing where this little adventure would lead. I didn't have any firm expectations about the project's longevity, being only reservedly optimistic about my own stamina. However, I soon discovered that, for better or worse, I was basically along for the ride. I simply had no idea that writing about nothing in particular for no particular audience would become such an engrossing hobby.

Writing is a very good discipline for honing both one's thought and communication abilities. Thought that has been hammered out into sentences attains a precision, clarity, and orderliness that it did not have before. Blogging simply happens to be a convenient medium for exercising this discipline. The rewards and benefits are not to be found in blogging per se, but rather in writing, whether in a blog or elsewhere.

At times, I still think of dropping the whole thing, usually during those weeks where my thought is going nowhere and I can't seem to squeeze even a single paragraph out of my dried up cerebral arteries. In those times, I will simply walk away and focus on something else, and before long the geyser will have built up enough pressure to resume eruptions.

I am quite used to doing work that no one sees, but I have very much appreciated the public and interactive nature of blogging. Feedback and encouragement are very gratifying and validating for anyone, writers especially. I have made it my policy never to solicit comments, and I intend to stick to it. At the same time, I do appreciate the support and encouragement many of you have sent my way, and I thank you.

I do not know what the next year holds, and feel a bit silly saying as much - as if anyone did know. I suppose it is healthy, however, to periodically acknowledge our limits and once again make a conscious decision to trust. There's a reason people quote Proverbs 3:5-6 so frequently.

Whatever happens, I hope I've made you think, stimulated you to read, encouraged you to write, and above all, helped you to focus on Christ - the bread from Heaven and the transcendent, incarnate Logos.

Image courtesy of usaaloft.com