Consider the Birds

Photo: Julia Ozab

I’m in a bit of a conundrum when it comes to my blog. First off, I’m a writer–if I wasn’t I wouldn’t use the word “conundrum.” And as a writer I need to find an audience. In the 21st Century, that means the Internet. As an up-and-coming writer, I need a net presence (blog and/or social media) or I’m invisible. So I need to put myself out there, but then I see my hits and follows and like stagnating while others’ seem to skyrocket and I wonder what I’m doing wrong.

I get so frustrated that I don’t want to blog or tweet or post or pin (or whatever) anymore. That’s the other reason why I’ve been so quiet. Yes, I was fighting a bad chest cold for most of May, but the slowdown began before that. Because the burnout began before that.

So what does this have to do with birds?

Two weekends ago, I took a day off, got away from my laptop, and drove to the Finley Wildlife Refuge with my wife and daughter. Birds were everywhere. We could see them flitting from tree to tree, but even when we couldn’t see them we could hear them.

At the first stop, while Julia and Anna had their cameras out waiting to spot a bird on a perch or in flight, I stood still, closed my eyes, and listened.

I heard music, a counterpoint of bird songs in surround sound. And through that wondrous polyphony, God spoke to me.

Listen to “the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” –Matthew 6:26

And I realized that all the worry wouldn’t add one more view, one more click, or one more meaningless web stat. That’s not why I write anyway. I write to capture just a snippet of the profound beauty we all experience in life.

And I was more inspired in that moment than I could be by a year’s worth of tweets or posts. Because in that moment, I got in touch with the Source of everything.

So consider the birds singing, or the leaves whispering their secrets to each other in a nearby tree, or a child praising her Creator in her infectious laugh. Consider the ongoing symphony, sonata, and song multiplied by a million that God conducts for his and our pleasure every day.

And leave tomorrow for tomorrow. That’s how I plan to write, blog, and live from now on.

With God’s help, I pray, at those times that I will inevitably stumble.

Amen.

Break

If you hadn’t noticed, things have been quiet around here lately. I didn’t plan to take a break from blogging, but it happened anyway.

And that’s okay.

We need breaks from time to time. We need to relax, to take some deep breaths, and to recharge. We need to try new things, and experience new experiences.

Above all, we need to live.

It’s so easy to get lock into writing. To focus on word counts and deadlines. It’a even easier to get caught up in the business of writing. To spend more time on social media trying to be heard above the din of voices.

We spend so much time on output, we forget about input. Reading a book, taking a walk, singing, or  playing a musical instrument. Talking to our friends, engaging with our partners, or playing with our kids. And then we wonder why the output stops.

No input, no output.

No living, no life.

That’s why we have to take breaks, and that’s why the blog has slowed down and why it will pick up again once I am filled.

And this week, a two-for one (to catch up with both online communities):

Bloggerhood Etc. 3/9/2015

Photo: Benjamin L. Corey

Best Open Letter. “Dear Rick & Becky: I Hope You Get To Read This One Day” by Benjamin L. Corey at Formerly Fundie.

Best Special Needs Post. “Letting Go of Self-Sabotage on the Special Needs Journey” by Gillian Marchenko at Not Alone.

Best Story. “Lucky Charms” by Tania Runyan, posting at Cara Strickland’s Little Did She Know.

Best Question. “What’s the Big Deal About the Dad 2.0 Summit?” by Zach Rosenberg at 8 Bit Dad.

Best List. “The Top Ten Portland Album Covers of All Time” by Ned Lannamann at The Portland Mercury.

Best Commentary. “The Argument for a Basic Income” by John D. Sutter at CNN.com.

Best History Lesson. “The Story of the Reformation Needs Reforming” by Eamon Duffy in The Telegraph.

Best Portrait of an Artist. “Simon Beck: Creating Art with a Compass and Snowshoes” by Andrea Crossan at BBC News Magazine.

Best Retrospective. “54 Miles to Freedom” by Paul Murray at National Catholic Reporter.

Best Tribute. “Oren Miller, 1973-2015” by Dustin Fisher (via YouTube).

To catch up on the great posts I’m reading online and to get a sneak preview of next week’s candidates, check out my new Around the Blogosphere board on Pinterest.

Bloggerhood Etc. 2/9/15

Photo: The Mindful Dad

Best Guest Post. “Daddy I Love You and Mom” by Parker at Mindful Dad.

Best List. “16 Things That Happened When I Went to The Creation Museum” by Sarah Moon at Sarah Over the Moon.

Best Question. “How Real Are Facebook Friendships?” by Jacoba Urist at The Atlantic.

Best Dad. “This Single Dad Couldn’t Do His Daughter’s Ponytail, So He Went To Cosmetology School” by Jessica Samakow at Huff Post Parents.

Best Special-Needs Post. “I’m Autistic, And Believe Me, It’s A Lot Better Than Measles” by Sarah Kurchak at Medium.

Best Diagram. “Sy Fy Movie Venn Diagram” by David Vienna at Vienna Calling.

Image: Vienna Calling

Most Alarming. “Report: Requiring Kindergartners to Read—as Common Core Does—May Harm Some” by Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post.

Best Commentary. “The Cowardice of Conversationalists” by Charlie Capen at How to be a Dad.

Strangest Gift. “Lobster” by Thorn Caraway at Cara Strickland’s Little Did She Know.

Most Moving. “Why I Don’t Cry to Christians Anymore” by Anonymous at Micah J. Murray’s Redemption Pictures Blog.

Best Essay. “Meet the Bag Man” by Steven Godfrey at SB Nation.

Best Fake Trailer. “Star Wars vs. Star Trek Epic Trailer” by Alex Luthor (via YouTube).

Bloggerhood Etc. 12/29/14

The Twelve Days of Christmas by Xavier Romero-Frias (CC BY-SA 3.0)

And the Twelve Blogs of Christmas (aka the best Christmas posts of the week).

1. “SB Nation’s 12 Days of GIFsmas” by Bill Hanstock at SB Nation. 

2. “Have a Merry, Messy Christmas” by Kelly Langston at Support for Special Needs.

3. “The Town With Three Christmases” by Yolande Knell at BBC News Magazine.

4. “By His Light” by Ashley Larkin, guest posting at Christine Purifoy’s blog, There is a River.

5. “House of Bread” by Cara Strickland at Little Did She Know.

6. “Things I’ll Be Doing This Christmas Vacation” by Andee Zomerman at Nature of a Servant.

7. “An Unexpected Revolution” by Elizabeth Stoker-Bruenig at Democratic Socialists of America.

8. “Books on Monday: Charlie and the Christmas Kitty” by Leslie Lindsay at Speaking of Apraxia.

9. “A Nation in Dire Need of Christmas” by Christopher J. Hale at Time.

10. “Cool Gifts Christians Can Give Baby Jesus for His Birthday” by John Pavolitz.

11. “Pope Calls for Peace, says: ‘Truly There Are Too Many Tears This Christmas!’” by Gerard O’Connell at America.

12. “The Glove and Boots Holiday Playlist” by Glove and Boots (via YouTube).