This week marks the five-year mark for my blog - a birthday of sorts! At birthday times we sometimes share some stats, especially when the one we're celebrating is still in the early years. So here are a few of my blog stats at the time of this five-year mark!
It has been approximately 1,825 days since I opened up this blog, and today I am publishing my 710th post. This averages out to one post about every 2.5 days. I'm not a big blogger by any means - you'll just find quiet, thoughtful posts here ... not a lot of fanfare and not a huge amount traffic. But I've been blessed with about 161,500 page views over the past 5 years, averaging out to about 88 page views each day.
The last few months have been a slower blogging season for me, as I have needed to give extra time to family and to Cru ministry. And now as the full months of April and May are coming to a close - and I am at the five-year mark for this blog, I am taking time to refresh, and to begin writing again.
It's a good time to ask myself: Why do I write here?
You can read my very first post - here - and see the initial reasons why I started blogging. And you can read - here - the main reasons why I have continued to write.
And I am asking myself, again ... why do I want to continue to write, to step into my sixth year of blogging, and beyond?
It's easy to explain, and also maybe hard to explain.
Maybe one of the main reasons is that writing is a little like breathing for me. It's how I think through things, how I process thoughts and ideas. It is necessary; it is a part of who I am. If there were no paper and pen, no screen and keyboard, I would be rather lost. For it is in the process of putting thought to written word that things make sense to me.
And the next reason, very closely connected to the first, is that in some hard-to-explain way, I sensed a calling five years ago to take from my private writing (which fills up many, many journals) and to share. Sharing my words gives me a deep measure of joy and fulfillment, and if someone is blessed by reading, then my joy is doubled. Surely God who crafts us with our unique passions and gifts, also desires for us to use these to spread joy and hope to others.
An unexpected blessing in blogging has been to find many others of kindred heart. I've made a point of collecting quotes from other writers on why they write. Here are a few of those quotes that I have identified with, and have been encouraged by over the past five years.
"Write the words that you so desperately need to hear." (Lysa Terkeurst)
"If we write to lose ourselves, we'll find God." (Emily Wieranga)
"But here's the biggest thing I've learned: write from and for the heart or don't write at all." (Girl with Blog)
"And when I do write, give me the gift of hesitation with consideration. Remind me Lord, to insert a holy pause before I publish anything - be it a blog post, a letter, a tweet, a status update. Whisper in my ear. "Does this bring Me glory?" (Stacy Thacker)
"I started this blog with the direction from the Lord ... be generous with your life." (A Life Surrendered)
"Let the writing flow from the deepest places inside you. Reveal the real you. ... Embrace the process as much as the final product. Through the act of writing, we acquire a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us." (Denise Hughes)
"Refine me with each post how You will, rank me how You will.
Put me to service, or put me to suffering.
Let me post for Thee or be put aside for Thee.
Lifted high, only for Thee, or brought low, all for Thee.
Do with me and each post whatever You will, because You alone know best."
(Ann Voskamp)
It has been approximately 1,825 days since I opened up this blog, and today I am publishing my 710th post. This averages out to one post about every 2.5 days. I'm not a big blogger by any means - you'll just find quiet, thoughtful posts here ... not a lot of fanfare and not a huge amount traffic. But I've been blessed with about 161,500 page views over the past 5 years, averaging out to about 88 page views each day.
The last few months have been a slower blogging season for me, as I have needed to give extra time to family and to Cru ministry. And now as the full months of April and May are coming to a close - and I am at the five-year mark for this blog, I am taking time to refresh, and to begin writing again.
It's a good time to ask myself: Why do I write here?
You can read my very first post - here - and see the initial reasons why I started blogging. And you can read - here - the main reasons why I have continued to write.
And I am asking myself, again ... why do I want to continue to write, to step into my sixth year of blogging, and beyond?
It's easy to explain, and also maybe hard to explain.
Maybe one of the main reasons is that writing is a little like breathing for me. It's how I think through things, how I process thoughts and ideas. It is necessary; it is a part of who I am. If there were no paper and pen, no screen and keyboard, I would be rather lost. For it is in the process of putting thought to written word that things make sense to me.
And the next reason, very closely connected to the first, is that in some hard-to-explain way, I sensed a calling five years ago to take from my private writing (which fills up many, many journals) and to share. Sharing my words gives me a deep measure of joy and fulfillment, and if someone is blessed by reading, then my joy is doubled. Surely God who crafts us with our unique passions and gifts, also desires for us to use these to spread joy and hope to others.
An unexpected blessing in blogging has been to find many others of kindred heart. I've made a point of collecting quotes from other writers on why they write. Here are a few of those quotes that I have identified with, and have been encouraged by over the past five years.
- - - - - - - - - -
"Write the words that you so desperately need to hear." (Lysa Terkeurst)
"If we write to lose ourselves, we'll find God." (Emily Wieranga)
"But here's the biggest thing I've learned: write from and for the heart or don't write at all." (Girl with Blog)
"And when I do write, give me the gift of hesitation with consideration. Remind me Lord, to insert a holy pause before I publish anything - be it a blog post, a letter, a tweet, a status update. Whisper in my ear. "Does this bring Me glory?" (Stacy Thacker)
"I started this blog with the direction from the Lord ... be generous with your life." (A Life Surrendered)
"Let the writing flow from the deepest places inside you. Reveal the real you. ... Embrace the process as much as the final product. Through the act of writing, we acquire a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us." (Denise Hughes)
"Refine me with each post how You will, rank me how You will.
Put me to service, or put me to suffering.
Let me post for Thee or be put aside for Thee.
Lifted high, only for Thee, or brought low, all for Thee.
Do with me and each post whatever You will, because You alone know best."
(Ann Voskamp)
Thank you for blessing me with your visit here
and for sharing in my joy of writing.
It's a blessing to read your blog Cherry! Love & prayers, in Jesus, Cynthia
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and for reading, Cynthia!
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