Well I’ve been writing on my little corner of the internet for 6 months today. It’s hard to believe.
I started this blog in order to have a space to share my thoughts, make writing a habit and hopefully encourage and inspire others. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I didn’t have a format besides posting something once a week, and I had no idea if my content would take off or not.
Honestly, it hasn’t really “taken off”. But thats ok.
It’s taught me to write consistently, which I wouldn’t have done otherwise amid a hectic work and school schedule, as well as family trips and holidays. There have been times where I’ve planned posts out weeks in advance and then there’s been Thursday nights where I’ve gone to bed dreading the next morning because I seemingly had “nothing” to write about.
It was always amazing how after those nights God was faithful to wake me up in the morning with an idea to write about and the strength to write it. I’ve known he wants me to keep writing for that reason alone.
And although my posts haven’t received an amazing amount of traffic, the traffic it has received has been nothing but encouraging. I can’t tell you how much it has blessed my heart to read comments and get dms that tell me how my words have been just what someone needed to hear, or the stories and verses I’ve shared have inspired them…
I couldn’t hope for anything more.
In the past, I had dreamed of being the next instagram poet, or publishing a book, or seeing my posts get shared across the internet, but honestly it’s alright if none of that happens. Like I said in my first post on this blog, “I want to pour everything I am into what I believe and keep moving forward in the direction of my convictions. Even if its just for one person.”
I am not writing to become famous, to one day sell my books, or to make a name for myself. I am writing because its what makes me passionate, its the best way for me to communicate, and because I know its what God wants me to do.
There’s a scene from one of my favorite movies that really illustrates this point. The movie is the classic “Chariots of Fire”, based on the 1924 Olympics and two prominent runners—Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams. Both were successful athletes, but throughout the movie you see a sharp contrast between the two. Eric, running for Scotland, was a devout Christian. Harold, running for Great Britain, was obsessed with winning alone.
In one scene Abrahams says, “And now in one hour’s time I will be out there again. I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor, 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence. But will I?”
In a different scene Liddell says, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”
Eric’s purpose was not defined by running, as Harold’s was. But he knew that God had given him a gift, and that when he used that gift, God smiled down on him from heaven.
In the same way, when I write, I feel Gods pleasure.
So that’s why I keep writing.
I write with the hope that someone will be encouraged or inspired. I write to push myself and keep myself accountable and disciplined. But more than anything, I write to feel God’s pleasure.
A large aspect of my writing is actually the poems I don’t share. Honestly I’ve been afraid of what people might think since they aren’t always “christian”. But running wasn’t a “christian” activity, and Eric kept running. God gives us good and perfect gifts- people, places, mountains, coffee, love… I want to write about those things and I want to write about what inspires me-pain, beauty, joy, sorrow…
So moving forward, every other week I’ll be sharing a poem on the blog. Some will be short and some will be long, some will rhyme but most of them won’t. Some will be about God and my faith, but honestly a lot of them won’t be too.
I don’t know if that will mess up the format and algorithm of my blog, or if I will lose interest or followers, but I want to be proud of what I post and genuine in what I write. I want to share the things that inspire me.
So to end this post, I’m going to include one of those poems. I wrote it last Summer, after months of traveling, attending discipleship school and doing missions work. It was the first poem I’d wrote in months and I remember opening up my journal and just feeling an overwhelming amount of relief and gratitude.
I want to continue feeling that. And I want to continue feeling God’s pleasure. So I’m going to continue to write.
