We bought some nets at Super Store today. We took them to the creek this afternoon and successfully snatched up some minnows. This led to some nature journaling. (Simply drawing what you've observed and labeling it with the date, and place.)
Lest I present us as a happy, nature journaling family, let me tell you this expedition wasn't exactly filled with joy or standing in awe of God's creation. It was filled with kids snapping at each other about stealing each other's spot, and 'you made me wet', and 'let me see the fish' and the Mom screaming that the children 'should be kind and just have fun!' Then when the picture taking didn't go my way, I snapped about that too.
You see in blogging our lives can look somewhat romantic and our words can sound pretty. I've even heard people say that they can't look at blogs because it makes them discontent about the things in their lives(which is a good reason to stay away from blogs if that is true). I do think that when you read a blog you have to keep in mind that we all have things in our lives that we are ashamed of and don't want to expose to the blog world.
If you know that you have sin in your life, it is a pretty safe assumption to believe that there is sin in the life of a blogger. Read between the lines and see the reality in the pictures-not in a judgmental, sceptical way but in an honest, soul searching way. Does that make sense? Basically, we have to be discerning even when we read/write blogs.
If you know that you have sin in your life, it is a pretty safe assumption to believe that there is sin in the life of a blogger. Read between the lines and see the reality in the pictures-not in a judgmental, sceptical way but in an honest, soul searching way. Does that make sense? Basically, we have to be discerning even when we read/write blogs.
So in our nature journaling our human nature was disgustingly present, as it is in all areas of our lives. It is just so much easier to skip over the ugly parts of our lives and gush about the good things. It is hard to find the balance between sharing the good things and being honest about the nasty stuff. Writing about mundane things is just a 'snapshot' of life-it's not the whole picture. I want to be honest but I also have to remember that honesty doesn't eliminate privacy. I also don't want to expose my sin in a way that justifies it or tempts me to welcome the guilty company.
As Ann Voskamp sometimes signs off-ALL IS GRACE! Despite the sin that saturates our everyday life, God restores joy in the mundane when we repent. We had fun catching minnows and we have a neat record of it on paper-even that is GRACE. Thank you Lord!
As Ann Voskamp sometimes signs off-ALL IS GRACE! Despite the sin that saturates our everyday life, God restores joy in the mundane when we repent. We had fun catching minnows and we have a neat record of it on paper-even that is GRACE. Thank you Lord!
3 comments:
Great post Mel! I know it's true for myself; I'm careful to not share too many "real" things lest people think I don't have it all together. Good food for though.
Ezzie's hair is adorable! Mia's picture looks great (can't see Sen's) and I love the concentration in Ksena's face while sketching. Cool idea. Now I feel bad and discontent that I didn't think to do that with my kids. jk I get what you mean about other bloggers though. Of course they (we) highlight the good on our public blogs not the bad. I do love real bloggers who will share the doubts/fears/shortcomings too though.....
Love Esme's hair. It's super cute.
Great post - I try to remind myself of the fact that blogs can be misleading sometimes.
I will admit that if I take a picture of one of my kids that I think "I'll post that on my blog" and then notice a mess in the background I will quickly clear away the mess to an unforeseen place and re-take the picture. Horrible, eh??? Now that's hiding your dirty laundry (literally!!!)
Thanks for the honesty.... :)
Post a Comment