My sister asked me today why I don't blog anymore. I suppose that is reason enough to start blogging again. I told her it was because of not having internet at my previous residence, I recently moved, and going back to school, too busy, but I think it was honestly that I lost inspiration. I lost my motivation. And in doing so, or rather not doing so, I lost part of myself.
I LOVE to write. I love to blog. I use this as my edited journal. I find myself exploring why I believe what I believe and how that comes to life in the world around me. I use this blog as a means of expressing myself in ways that just make better sense in a blog than in a conversation. I was contemplating when and why I started blogging today and I realized that I began back in high school. (LunchTimeDevos) I took a lay speaking class on preaching and someone saw it fit to tell me that I should post devotions online. And I did so for quite some time. They are still up for the world to see too. But I loved to write and have readers who got inspired because they could get on at 5:30am and have a short morning devotional written in a basement by some teenager who saw the world in a different way. Over time, I think I've begun to think that that way is not an appropriate way for an adult. Today, I think I was more right in how I wrote than what I gave myself credit for. Writing about turtles on the road and the sunrise/sunset are totally appropriate! So today, I shall take up writing about the things that inspire me or make me think as I go about my day. Sometimes it is the little things that God can get me thinking about Him and how His kingdom works and what needs to be done. Thus, here is a story about Making Cookies...
Someone I know recently made cookies. She had the recipe, which made the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had, and she had all the ingredients. She mixed everything together and realized the batter looked a little thin. She tossed in a little more flour and figured it would just make a giant cookie cake if they all ran together. Unfortunately, they ran together but were inedible. She had forgotten to add the rest of the flour to the batter so instead of using 2.25 cups, she only used 1 cup! THAT obviously made a huge difference.
Now, she had clearly forgotten to use the rest of the flour, but how often do we try and take short-cuts in our walk of faith? We have all the ingredients - we read the Bible, pray, go to church, give, etc - but we just don't have the right amounts. Instead of reading the Bible daily and digesting it, we read a quick devotion (when we remember to) and head out the door to our busy lives. Just today I saw something on Facebook that emphasized the lack of Christians who greet God in the morning. Don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of this too, but don't we tend to fill our lives with ingredients that do more harm than good and don't put enough of the good ingredients either? We serve.......once a month, if even.....for two hours......It's just not enough. We give......until it messes with our usual expenses. We go to church......for one hour....a week......and we complain if it runs a little long. We pray......for five minutes every night.......okay, like two minutes......right before we drift off to sleep because we spent our day doing too much.
Now, I know there are some of you out there that will say that you do have all the ingredients and you do these things enough. BUT - just like not enough flour will not make cookies edible, too much vanilla could ruin them too. I've heard it said that too much of a good thing can make it a bad thing. This reminds me of the Apostle Paul who talked about moderation in everything. We as the church cannot be half-hearted Christians if we expect to be able to change the world for God. And we can't be burnt out Christians either. We have to learn this balance and this recipe for life. Until we do, we won't be content in all circumstances or able to impact the people we are meant to impact.
So, what ingredient do you have, but maybe don't have enough of? Perhaps you are missing an ingredient altogether? Are you burning out because having too much of one ingredient and not enough of another to even it out?
I may have lost my inspiration to write when I stopped looking at the world around me and seeing that I had something to offer that might impact people, even if it dealt with turtles or cookies, whether I was writing at age 16 or age 24. Regardless, this won't be the last post. At least, not for a while. I think God's given me a lot to offer up and I hope you'll stick around to read about my reclaimed existence!
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