I’ve been pondering my bloggy life today. There are weeks when it feels like each day I have something really important to share. I can’t hardly wait to write! And then there are times when I have a few days in a row when nothing really jumps out at me. Some days I feel incredibly coffee-ish, and other days it’s the community that sparks my imagination. Some days I just wonder how you all put up with me! (And I think this day is one of them!).
Tonight I’ve been reading one of my favorite blogs, the Tall Skinny Kiwi. He published a post about the top 60 Christian bloggers. Now as soon as there’s a “Top…” type of post, my heart thumps and I actually begin to feel competitive. I wonder how I can break into that group, or get this ranking, or link here or there. There’s a real bloggy celebrity culture that is alluring once in awhile.
Until.
Until I remember that my life is not my own. It’s bought and paid for already, and whatever use it is depends on God, not me. I remember the amazing people that I have already met through blogging, and the friendships that are growing over the days and weeks as we read each other’s posts. I remember how the blogs on the top of the heap have inspired me, led me, taught me, reprimanded me, held me accountable. They need to continue to do that for other people! So rather than let my competitive edge begin to rear its head, I approached this list as a resource for more great reading and growth in my own spirit.
Digging down into Tall Skinny Kiwi I read this paragraph from a 2007 post on blogging tips. It seemed to capture my heart tonight, so I decided to share it.
15. Don’t Love To Be First.
Coming first in the Google race can be an idol and it can also be inappropriate if someone else should be there. Sometimes its good NOT to be number one. There is a place for getting your post found and perhaps your post deserves that waterfront location on the search engine results BUT there is also a place for allowing others to be first or in control of their own story. I hope that you will find yourself on top of the hill during 2007 to say the things God has put on your heart. But I also hope you have the wisdom and constraint to bow out of the rankings and push others up above yourself. You don’t always have to be first. Don’t be like Diotrephes, who loved to be first (3 John 1:19) but rather mimic John the Baptist who decided to decrease so that Christ might increase.
Or in the words of George Whitefield, “May the name of Whitefield perish, but Christ be glorified.”
To all my bloggy heroes…thank you for all the amazing work you do! And to all my precious bloggy friends (you know who you are, y’all), thank you for speaking God’s words into my life and walking through the ups and downs of life in the real world. Even when we only meet in the cyber world!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I work day in and day out in the interactive marketing world, full of bloggers and marketers trying to fight the fight against Google. I love the paragraph you posted. Thanks!
My brother and I are blogging with reformation21.org through John Calvin’s institutes, maybe something there might help strengthen and encourage as your blog has done for me today.
Thanks for the encouragement! I will head on over to your blog now. Gotta love new bloggy finds.
thanks for noticing. God bless.