Lousy Bloggers Anonymous

Hello, my name is David and I am a lousy blogger. (“Hello David,” comes the echo of the gathered crowd of other members in the twelve step LBA program.) We know who we are. Those who think it would be fun to create a blog to express our thoughts on things and share the happenings in our lives. We start off with good intentions of logging in at least every couple of days. But then the couple of days become once a week, then two weeks. And before we realize it a month has passed and we have hardly thought about posting on our blog.

Don’t take this as any sort of apology to you, the reader, for my lack of staying current. (It’s not like there are even very many who read this blog.) I guess I’m more disappointed with myself, as though I’m shirking my responsibility and neglecting the obligation I assumed when I decided to have a blog. Will I start posting on a more regular basis? I hope so. But I’m not really going to promise that.

Here’s what I think is really going on that has made me hesitate to blog as of late. I’m a bit of a political junkie. This being election season, there are so very many issues and candidates about which I have strong opinions. I know one function of a blog is to be a forum which allows people to post their views unencumbered by the worry about equal time or edittorial review. That’s one of the things I love about reading other blogs, the chance to read another’s opinion and get into their head a little. And there is so much I would love to blog about.

However, I also realize my true citizenship is in the heavenly kingdom. As such, there is also an obligation to promote unity and not division within the body. Does posting just for the sake of feeling good about spouting my political views in this heated climate serve any real eternal purpose?

Does that mean I won’t discuss politics with fellow believers if asked? Not at all. I’m more than happy to have a civil, rational and open political discussion provided I am certain the parties involved and I will still be able to walk away without injury to the relationship. And let’s face it, we do live here so what happens in our government does effect us. Will I vote? You bet. Though I know our problems cannot truly be solved apart from the hearts of people being changed, I can cast a vote for those whom I think will create a climate which will better reflect my own values.

I don’t know. I’ve really been trying to get my head around what “being in the world but not of the world” should look like in a situation like this election and the world of politics. Maybe I’m a bit misguided here about the whole not posting political opinions. I’d like to think that readers who know me would give me the benefit of the doubt and be mature enough to perhaps allow my views to differ from theirs without it getting personal. But I guess for now I’ll err on the side of caution and not risk becoming a stumbling block.