Enjoying the Journey

Well, I have licked my wounds and have grown immensely in these last couple of days. We are constantly on a learning curve, are we not?

Without going into too much detail, I want to share with you what I have learned. Recently a comment was put on my blog by my brother. I need to tell you just how much I value my brother. He is the neatest person around, after my husband and kids. He is really smart. Right now he is studying to be a nurse anaesthetist. He has a beautiful wife, one daughter, and a little boy on the way. I love his whole family dearly.

My brother and I do share different views on things in life. But that doesn't bother me because we have always been able to respect each other. In my family, I truly believe that he and his wife are our number one supporters for what we do with our lives.

So, when he commented on my blog, for the very first time, I was taken back. It wasn't supportive, it seemed aggressive, and looked to me to be very judgemental. It made me cry.

Since then, we have talked about things. And I see how he was able to take what I wrote and find that it may have been judgemental and harsh and full of emotion. If you didn't know me in real life, it very well could have looked as an irrational rant that did not support any sort of medical intervention.

For the record, I do believe in doctors, vaccinations, medical intervention, health insurance, etc. I really do. I also believe in the Great Physician, who can and has healed many. I have seen Him do it with my own eyes. But, that is for another post.

One thing my brother talked with me about was my blog. Funny enough, I had been spending the last several weeks contemplating my blog in the back of my mind. I have felt a change coming in a small way. I guess God just decided to use my brother to make things clear. (How appropriate bro, God uses you to get me on track with what I am to write!)

My brother said the following, "Your blog is not a diary. A diary is a place where you can work out your thoughts, write them down, change them, think about them, see them in a physical form. A blog is a statement of fact....whether you intend it or not. As a public forum, you are choosing for the world to read what your feelings are....not what they possibly may be. The line is not fuzzy, it is very clear. You are publishing and releasing a "book" of facts. In some ways you could be considered an activist for what you believe. You are a leader in your world and people look to you for guidance. They care about what your opinion is and may or may not adjust their practice accordingly." See writing runs in the family!!!

When I read that I stopped and realized exactly what God was trying to get my attention on with my blog. My brother was right in what he wrote. There are times that I write from pure emotion, expecting all those out there to get it.

When I first started blogging, I did it, so that I could get "stuff" out of my head. I invited a few people to read it, really those who knew me in life. I had no expectations or any sort of thoughts of trying to become a Super Blogger. And really, I don't have tons of people who read this blog now. But I am starting to see people who I have never met before, all over the US, stop in and read a post or two.

No one can actually know exactly how someone takes what I have written and internalizes it. I sit behind a screen and type away with my thoughts and actions. I know how I feel when I am writing it, but letters and words on a screen don't always give an accurate description of the emotion behind it. It is very likely that something said in a fury of emotions could look like fact.

I have realized that for me, I have a responsibility to be a little bit more careful (in a very good way) of what I write. I need to be more prayerful of what I am putting out there. There are times, that I need to choose to write in my offline journal then on my blog.

I am not changing who I am. I write with emotion and heart. That is just who God made me to be. But, I think I need to be more cognitive of my readers and what they are reading. You never know who might be reading what any of us write.

I am excited to blog with this new perspective. It's a challenge in some ways to me. I feel as though the Lord used my brother to up the anty on what I am writing. God wants a new quality in my blog!

So, brother, I love you and am thankful for you.

Posted in: Learning More on Wednesday, February 07, 2007 at at 7:17 PM