Blogger, Be Who You Are

I want to assure you with all earnestness, that no writing is a waste of time, - no creative work where the feelings, the imagination, the intelligence must work. With every sentence you write, you have learned something. It has done you good. It has stretched your understanding.
~Brenda Ueland

Bloggers are afraid if we appear a faithful melancholic, someone might accuse us of trying to be Ann.  We don't want to put ourselves out there too much and end up being turned on like Elizabeth.  We are apprehensive when taking cooking photos lest someone think we are copying Pioneer Women.  And so we lie with each timid word we tap out in rhythmic keyboard clicks.  For fear of being like them, we are not ourselves.





Let me assure you, Ann is not the first melancholic who clung to Jesus for dear life and wrote to tell about it.  Elizabeth is the not the original betrayed and Pioneer Woman is not the pioneer of cooking photography.  These are beautiful souls using the gifts God has given them...and we, the reader, reap the benefits of their individual honesty.

So many bloggers say, "I feel like I am trying to be like {fill in the blank} because my blog colors are dark, or light, or embellished, or professionally designed." Or, "I feel like I have nothing to say that Ann, or Elizabeth, or Ree have not already said or could say better."

We all have something to say.  The cloistered monks and nuns who spend large chunks of time in solitude still have something to say; they are just saying it to God rather than the world.  The baby who babbles incessantly has something to say whether anyone understands his slobbery sounds or not.





If we write truthfully, if we are who we really are, each word we write is an original masterpiece.  Yes, you are an original masterpiece and the truth you write belongs to you...so share it without fear or reserve.

Be who you are!  Be who you were created to be!

You don't have to run multiple blogs and post daily to be a "success."  If your goal is multiplicity, spare us the drivel.  We would much rather read a few honest sentences than paragraph after torturous paragraph of  hooey because you read somewhere you need to post at least so many words, so many times a day, so many times a week.





If you take pictures of your kitchen masterpieces because Pioneer Woman inspired you...good for you!  I'm sure Ree would be the first to give you a pat on the back as she devoured your creation.

If you run a busy household with prayer and intention, share your small steps in the spirit of Elizabeth and offer a little prayer for all of us in the trenches.

When the quiet whispers of God the Father slip from your heart to your keyboard, offer a prayer of thanksgiving, that He not only inspired you, He may have even shown you the way through another timid soul.





The world wide web is big enough for each and every one of us.  It can easily support the uniqueness we each bring to the flickering screen.  Blogger, be who you are!  Share what you have been given!  Relish your individual characteristics.  Each one of us has the opportunity to reflect the image and likness of God.  Go forth in confidence...with true charity.