I've just returned from my first blogging and writing conference. I went hoping to learn how to be more effective and returned with my focus more firmly settled on the "BE," rather than the "EFFECTIVE."
Pursuing any dream is a bit of a paradox--a dichotomy of ideas that wars within your soul until you reconcile and understand the tension. You know what I'm talking about...you have a dream, a longing, a desire for more. As a writer/blogger here are my personal paradoxes:
- I have a personal story...but I share it publicly with the world.
- I desire to grow my reach and my influence...but only One audience actually matters in the end.
- I write about my life...but I have to live it fully in order to have anything to write about.
- The business of writing...begins with the business of living.
- I desire to stand out and stand apart...but in community, we stand together.
- Everyone online is "published"...but for a writer, to be traditionally published holds such permanence.
- Numbers don't matter...but they do.
- I desire to be content where I am...but I will do all I can to not settle.
These are some of the juxtaposed thoughts that swarmed around my head as I gathered with the room full of Christian writers, mothers, story-tellers--all 400 of them--who came seeking to grow in using their voice...their words...their platform. I dare say each of us left with more than we expected--not necessarily from what was offered in a session, a resource table, or a keynote (though all were insightful and rich)--but from the impact of experiencing the written word as living souls. Souls who become friends and community.
Should it surprise us that it is a paradox? That the deepest well or the purest stream of water must still be drawn one handful, one bucket at a time? Something as free and fast as water is delivered through small and simple vessels. The paradox is this:
God provides the limitless resources and enablings of His work and ministry; we simply catch it and offer it in our simple, broken pots of redeemed lives.
Therein lies the tension, again:
- The first shall be last.
- To be poor in spirit is to be gain the whole Kingdom.
- To be weak is to be strong.
- To lose your life is to gain it.
...and so it could be said of pursuing your dreams, the longings of your heart, and the crossroads of CALLING and ENABLING;
There is not how-to for success, no formula for effectiveness, no stamp of approval, there is but ONE ambition--to find Him more worthy, more beautiful than any dream, any longing, any desire for more.
"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." -Matthew 6:33
So this is my dream-pursuing, blogging-better strategy...to be a simple vessel filled up with living water. Living water is limitless and the vessel will hold as much as He desires. That's all the strategy I really need...What about you?
****IMPORTANT UPDATE!**** I'm so thankful to have you at GraceLaced Mondays! I am making a change to the link up: instead of featuring one post here each week as introduction to the link up, I will be choosing 3 of my favorite posts each week, and sharing them with readers via Facebook and Twitter at the end of the week. This change will be more exposure and interest for linked-up bloggers, and will allow me to post my own writing on Mondays once again. You will simply find the link up at the end of each Monday's post. Thank you so much for being a part of this grace-noting community. All glory to Him!
Welcome to GraceLaced Mondays, a link up dedicated to sharing any and all blog posts by like-minded lovers of grace--God's grace! Grace is found in the everyday when you are intentional about taking note of it...and I invite you to share your story, great or small, of how everyday moments are full of Grace.
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