Bringing Good Home

For the past couple of weeks I have been noodling a post in my brain about my goals in blogging. It all started back in October when I read these posts on Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin. Those posts weren’t the whole reason but at least part of the reason why I started my new blog on WordPress in November. The old blog wasn’t bad…but I wasn’t sure what my goals were with the other blog and I wanted a fresh start. Then a few weeks ago, I remember reading someone else’s blog about who they were and what they wanted their blog to be all about. I didn’t save it unfortunately, but it got me thinking. And then if that wasn’t enough, my own pastor did a few posts on what his goals were and also about a few of the dangers and pitfalls of blogging that we must avoid. So now with my wheels really spinning, I really wanted to put something into words. So in an attempt to come across as light-hearted as possible, I’m listing “13 Things I Try To Do When Blogging…” (I think I can come up with that many!)

Besides, the idea behind Thursday Thirteen is to provide a way to share and get to know your fellow bloggers, so what better way to get to know me than to find out why I blog?.

Thirteen Things I Try To Do When Blogging…

1. Glorify God! This is something I try to do all the time, in every thing I do. I don’t want to do any less just because I am shielded by anonymity and a computer screen. While I do participate in some fun weekly carnivals, etc, I pray that overall my blog speaks of God and his glory.
2. Be real. This is something I struggle with, (but only because I must decide the level of information I want to put out on the internet - more about this later. ) I just hope that I come across as sincere and real and that my love for Christ rings true and not as a false front.
3. Be considerate. When I blog I do not rant, accuse, lay blame (except on myself, perhaps), or bash anybody or anything. At least, I don’t think I have. If I have wronged you, please forgive me. When I read things I disagree with, I do not leave nasty comments. If I do leave a comment on something I disagree with, I use nice manners. Being rude isn’t what I want people to remember me for.
4. Be reciprocal. When someone leaves me a comment, I try to at least check out their site for the day and if I have something to comment on one of thier posts about, leave a comment and a thank you.
5. Not leave empty comments. I try not to leave comments for comments’ sake. I admit I have just left something simple or polite (“I like that!” or “Good idea!”) when I really wanted to leave a comment to show that I stopped by for a visit after they were kind enough to pay me a visit. Lately I’ve changed that to “I like that! Thanks for stopping by my blog!” I think that’s better. But my point is that I don’t want to just randomly go blog-surfing and leave a comment on anything just to have left one and garner more traffic my way. Fake comments are just that - fake. And that’s not the kind of witness I want to have, ya know?
6. Not get caught up in statistics. The hit counter is… well, it can be a bit addictive. It’s fun to watch the numbers go up, see who left a comment, and read what they had to say. And that’s fine, I think - as long as it’s just a fun thing for when I sign in. As long as I’m not checking back every hour to see if somebody commented on my post yet or see if I’ve had over X number of hits for the day. Which, since I am home all day would be easy for me to do. I avoid getting caught up in it by putting it last. I get up in the morning, start the coffee, sit down to read my bible and pray (ideally, that is…been doing pretty good with that lately) then if the kids are still asleep I can check my email, read my blog feeds and then check my comments and stats last before getting the kids up and starting breakfast. Ideally.
7. Not participating in everything. There are sooo many blogrings and carnivals and daily whatevers…you could spend your whole day online and not get into all of it! I do participate in a few fun things. I always participate in Menu Plan Monday, because it kinda keeps me on track with planning a menu for the week before I go grocery shopping and that’s a good thing. I sometimes do Tackle-It-Tuesday, Works-For-Me-Wednesday, or Thursday Thirteen, but I try not to do them all every week. While I do want to participate in these fun things sometimes, it takes time to write and perfect the posts and get the pictures in, etc., and there are other things that I want to blog about. If I spent all that time, I would not be spending enough time with my family and on my home. In fact, I often have things I want to talk about that I never get to. However, I must keep my priorities straight, mustn’t I?
8. Keep an eye on the clock. This is where I really struggle. Time gets away so quickly and even if I’m not participating in all the stuff, it’s still too easy to spend too much time on the net. I try to set certain blocks of time that I can blog - provided it works out and I have something to blog about. I typically check my blog when I check my email in the morning, but don’t get on to do anything to it until after breakfast. Now that I am waiting to start schooling until 10:30 when the baby is napping, I let them have a little free play time until then and I get free play time on the internet. Then I try not to get back on again (at least not for more than a minute or two) until after they are in bed. Um… I’m not always good at sticking to it, though. But I try.
9. Be honest. That should be self explanatory enough. If I say “I went to church last night,” I really did. I’m not gonna make stuff up just to have something to blog about.
10. Be discreet. Ooh, a difficult line to walk. There are a ton of things I’d like to blog about but haven’t found the right balance. Since I don’t want to rant, or ‘diss’ anybody, then I can’t go off about “my hubby or my kid did ‘XYZ’ today.” I think it is bad form to badmouth my spouse and to do so to the entire world would, well, bad form on a world-wide level. Sure, blogging about leaning on God when hubby is having a bad day (for example) might be a good topic and one that others might glean encouragement from, but if I don’t know how well I can walk the line of discretion and encouragement, well, then it might be best to err on the side of discretion.
11. Not posting for the sake of posting. Okay, that’s similar to the point about the comments, but even more appropriate. If I don’t have anything good to say, well, then maybe I shouldn’t.
12. Provide good information. One of the reasons behind my blog is to find, collect, and talk about things that are good for my family - ways to improve our menu, get the most of our budget, keep a cleaner household, live a healthier lifestyle, lean more on God. You get the point. I want to stay true to that. It kinda goes with the “don’t rant” issue, but I want what I am bringing to my blog to be something good. Something useful. Something helpful. I want to be a provider of good information. Hopefully, I’ve held to that pretty well so far.
13. Above all else, be a good witness. Yeah, yeah. It’s not unlike “#1 - Glorify God.” But I like it when things come full circle. By glorifying God, not ranting, being real and considerate and reciprocal, by not leaving empty (fake) comments, or letting statistics be my goal, by not over-participating or spending TOO much time on my blog but taking good care of my family instead, by being honest and discreet, by not posting pointless posts but providing good information, I want to be a good witness to those who find me here. I want to be an arrow pointing people back to God. I realize that may not be evident in the middle of a kitchen cleaning tip, but I hope that as people read through my blog they can see a unifying theme to what I have to say. (In case I haven’t said it - God is good. He is all we need. )

Well, that’s all for now. Today I am linking to TWO Thursday Thirteen lists. (Is that allowed?) I used to link to Chaotic Home, but when she was in the middle of moving, I listed with Two Moms In A Blog. Now CH is back this week and I’m loyalty-torn! So check them both out.