Why do I blog?

I was recently wondering why I write my blog. Is it a waste of time? Very few people read my posts, compared with other writers. But something within me spurs me on to write and then share those thoughts with others.

I recently came across the following:

“I hate writing. Perhaps this is because I write so badly. The tool I use most frequently is the waste paper basket. But I still write. Why I wonder? To be practical, money has something to do with it I imagine. But for one so far from the bestseller lists there must be many easier ways of staying alive. I think the basic answer is that a writer must write. To write is difficult. Not to write is sheer agony. I don’t like agony, so I write. And I write in the hope that what I write will be of interest and of help to those who read. I write on biblical topics for these seem to me far and away the most significant. I hope that writing and these topics will bring writer & reader nearer to God.”
~ Leon Morris

Earning money is far from the reason that I write. I enjoy writing, when I have time. Now that I have retired and I am no longer writing sermons, nor preaching them, my blog and social media are the channels of communication open to me.

I started this blog as a way of having some accountability whilst doing a Lent challenge. I continued and realised it was a way of getting the pdf of art that goes with my book ‘out there’.

I will continue to write and share my thoughts of God, art, and other stuff. I am, from time to time, reminded of the first psalm that God spoke to me through. Whilst I was in the mud and mire of depression, these words jumped off the page:

He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him. (Psalm 40:3)

As years progressed and the call to ministry grew stronger I looked back at that first hint at the future. I write my blog as a continuation of me telling of the goodness of the Lord, and how he has renewed me. The work of renewal is ongoing. We are all a work in progress.

This is a page in my latest art and prayer journal. I have been following an online retreat and this is the result of one of the tutorials. The robins were chosen, not simply because they were the only birds I could find in my box, but because they remined me of my retreat last year (in person, not online) where I was greatly blessed and encouraged by a young lady called Robin. They were the ones that didn’t make it to the page last summer. Read about it here.