My experiment in letting go of the blog-perfection-trap
and simply blogging from the heart.
Tim Challis recently blogged an interesting set of articles encouraging the Christian Blogger to keep blogging… to press on in the ministry of the blog, even if only a few ever read it. I was so encouraged by this, because as I’ve shared here, I restarted SmellingCoffee.com as an act of obedience to the Lord, and am trusting Him to help me blog to the best of my ability and for His glory alone.
With that being said… I’m finding it difficult to add back in my schedule the hours required for each post to be perfect or even presentable… so I currently own a ton of “drafts” but have published only a very few. Until now.
{BTW, A Perfect post, to me, means that content is relevant to the readers; it is 100% documentable truth; shared with humility and integrity; the verses, grammar, punctuation, spacing, and links are done correctly; it won’t cause drama because I’ve already second-guessed what the critics might say and hedged them off at the pass; it has a Pinterest worthy graphic or two; and somehow, the reader will be encouraged in the Lord. To any critics… (see, I’m doing it again! oops!) I realize that these are all important traits of a good blog post, but I have let these goals stifle me instead of inspire me.}
One of the bloggers mentioned in Challis’ article, Trillia Newbell, shared that she, too, was hung up on waiting until her post was perfect before she would hit the publish button. Then she came upon what I think is a brilliant idea. She writes:
“Over the next few months, I’m going to write first drafts and post them. NO editing. NO scheduling when it’s done. I’m going to write when I can during the week, giving myself about 30 minutes and the post it. I will look for a photo but I’m not going to spend more than 5 minutes hunting. I will write about whatever my heart desires: my time with the Lord, the weather, what I’m reading, confession, whatever. This series will be appropriately called First Draft.”
Trillia Newbell, TrilliaNewbell.com
I LOVE this idea! It’s actually similar to the blogging of a decade ago. Hearts being shared without the pressure to preform or meet some perfect standard or list of SEO goals. (I STILL don’t know much about SEO, so I don’t even fiddle with that yet. {insert rolled eyes} #FutureGoal)
I’m going to adopt this #FirstDraft attitude for SmellingCoffee.com and pray that it will release some of the overwhelming pressure that comes with curating the perfect blog post.
And this is my first offering. First Draft only. First thoughts alone. Old-time Blogging… And I’m doing it with a relaxed smile on my face!
I’m wondering… is there anyone reading this who has been thinking/praying about starting your own blog? Have you been reluctant because it’s hard to find your own space in this information-saturated world? Or you don’t know how or what to do? Please don’t let that stop you. If the Lord is leading you to it, He will lead you through it.
Eleven years in, and I’m still feel as if I know so little… yet the Lord graciously takes the little that I know and uses it until I learn more. I know He will do the same for you. Oh… and Please let me know!!!
I’ll close today with one of my favorite verses:
“Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
1 Thes. 5:24 (AMP)
Don’t you just love that???
A men!
Bonus: copied from BibleHub.com is
1 Thes. 5:24 in a myriad of translations.
{LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this!!!}
The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.
He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
He who calls you is faithful; he will do it.
The one who chose you can be trusted, and he will do this.
He who calls you will do it, because he is faithful.
Holman Christian Standard Bible
He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
International Standard Version
The one who calls you is faithful, and he will continue to be faithful.
He who calls you is trustworthy, and he will in fact do this.
He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Faithful is he who has called you; it is he who shall perform it.
The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.
Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
Faithful is he that has called you, who will also do it.
Faithful is he that calls you, who also will do it.
Faithful is he that calls you, who also will do it.
Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it.
He is faithful who hath called you, who also will do it.
He [is] faithful who calls you, who will also perform [it].
Faithful is He who calls you, and He will also perfect His work.
He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.
Stedfast is He who is calling you, who also will do it.
