Raw-Goody Honest Blogging…in Christ, of course.

I used to hesitate blogging about anything transparent, but in my mind I’m naturally filled with raw-goody honesty. I don’t mean to be offensive, but if I can’t be myself then I can’t be anybody. As much as any of us wants to fit in, it doesn’t serve us well to be clones of Miss Bomb-diggity Blogger. I tried being vanilla, but it didn’t resonate with my the spice of my soul (don’t misunderstand, I love Vanilla especially in a hot cup of Joe). I suppose I could just be myself and let the chips fall where they may. This always concerns my husband, because we’re in ministry and run several businesses, but how would I ever know I’m loved and accepted as I am if I’m not free to be myself?

Here it comes…my raw-goody honesty is spilling over. *warning* I’m about to be real… I mean really real.

This may sound like a rather odd way of talking about the newness of Christ in my life, but hang on til the end.

So here’s this topic of blogging that I can’t seem to shake so it’s best I confess it now, make myself accountable (whatever that means), because confession is made unto righteousness. I mean, I know Jesus alone is my righteousness and I’ll tie all this in at the end.

I’ve been in bloggy land for..oh I dunno.. almost 10 years (if my memory serves me correctly). I ditched some blogs I used to write that had my exact start date and now that’s gone so I have to rely on my noggin.

We’ve seen bloggers come and go. Some take breaks and some start all over (like I did). Every year I see more massive projects being built by the same ol’ bloggers that built that last big thing (of which wanes in comparison). But hey, even rich people file for bankruptcy.

Have we, bloggers, ever stopped to think that maybe blogging for a cash flow isn’t really all that it’s cracked up to be?

Has your blog ‘business’ become a ball and chain, wore you out, made you pull your hair out, all while your kids and husband are clamoring for you to affirm them in your life?

And what about all those bloggy friends you had before you got so busy? Where are they now? Do you even know? Did they feel like you left them gasping for breath as you kicked the dust off your feet to chase the makerting gurus?

Is this kind of life really making you happy?

These are just a few of the many things I think about when I log on to compose a blog post. I tried chasing that carrot and it left me feeling exhausted, condemned, and never enough. Hey, isn’t that what mind control does?

I wonder how many bloggers realize how utterly annoying it is to have a Twitter stream filled with contests, giveaways, and advertised tweets. How many of your friends actually bought Tide with Bleach through your affiliate link so you could pay the mortgage? Do you know? Do you vie for their attention knowing they’re making you money? Blogging everyday has got to be cumbersome. Not only for the blogger, but also for the reader. It puts everyone in bondage!

Oh Don’t get me wrong dear friends and bloggers, there is absolutely nothing wrong with making money. I want you to make as much money as you need and want. Good God my dears, I want you to be filthy rich (doubt blogging will do that though)!

But what about your relationships? Are they fulfilling?

I think there comes a time in all our lives when we need to shift our priorities to remain as balanced as possible. Us moms have a habit of trying to spin too many plates at one time. It doesn’t mean we should give up  everything and be a bump on a log, but I do feel there is a great amount of value in reconsidering how we spend our time.

Hold on now, what does mind control, advertising, and mom bloggers all have to do with this?

I’ll tell you in just a minute, but first let me say this…it’s even more annoying to me when fellow Christian women condemn the rest of the bloggy world into thinking they should not even be blogging…and did you ever notice those women who condemn are successful and not losing their following? I can’t help but to wonder (while scratching my head) if those women have just discouraged their competition and raked in the other readers. Building profits off another’s ‘failures’?

“You’re not right with God if you spend so much time blogging and not enough time with your family. You may want to give up your blog right now and get right with God. You don’t have the right to be a blogger.”

hmmmm Well if all that blogging is so bad on us then why haven’t you disappeared and given up your blogs? And I thought JESUS was who made us right with God. Surely giving up a blog isn’t our salvation. Sisters, those arrogant outspoken women are not God and we don’t need to listen to that kind of ridicule.

(I tried to find a way to say that sweetly, but I can’t candy coat that one.)

When I come online to catch up with my friends’ blogs I don’t want to feel like I’m walking through the mall having intrusive kiosk attendants reaching out to force me to try their products. I don’t want to be hounded with pyramid scheme ploys to “build my blog to stardom in 30 days” with empty promises of monetary gain. That’s not why I’m a blogger. I understand some of them really are in this for the money and they have no desire to be real people with the rest of us and that’s their freedom to pursue that kind of life. But notice this…I don’t read their blogs.

I’m not interested. Not in the least bit.

I’m kinda really tired of the bloggy pyramid. I’m so totally done with some bloggers wanting to write with every Jane, Bertha, and Ginger Mega Blog corporation just to get their name in lights built up in Google’s rank; Only to dump their team after submitting two or three articles. I’m also wearied by how many mega blogs will scoop people up into other blogs to dangle carrots in front of them so they will write for the corporate blogger and help  them rake in the dough while little miss blogger submits her stuff for free.

We’re not slaves, so we need to stop submitting ourselves to the machine as though we are. We have stories to tell, so tell them.

It seems like This system is toppling (I can see that it’s toppling by how each old project wanes and a new one has to be built to keep the cash flow coming in) and I can’t help but to think how lost we tend to get in cyberland, totally forgetting to live life in abundance.

{To each his own I suppose.}

Pay close attention now and I’ll let you in on a little secret. The marketing world, complete with advertisers, their henchmen (you can figure out who they are all on your own), and the simple minded consumers are part of a bigger machine called mind control. Mind control only works well if they can:

• Convince the consumers the blogger is the one who knows better
• Keep  promises to the advertisers
• Rally henchmen to do their bidding
• We’re told we ‘need’ them to be the ones who introduce us to the best products, services, and yes… even the best religion.

All of this is to keep us all tied up in the rat race chasing the glittering carrot that we’ll never get and is most likely made of Styrofoam. What ever happened to real people who honestly tell their friends when they find a product that works for them? Why do we need to get a cut ($cha ching) before we inform our friends of something that will benefit them? It seems to me this massive machine in bloggy land is bogging us down with unnecessary chains and keeping us in bondage. We’re chained to the desk, laptop, and smartphone every second of the day. *raises hand* Been there, done that.

I blog for fun. It’s my enjoyment time to connect with other women and photo moms. I love photography and I am building up a bloggy-photo community (shameless plug) to ENJOY with people…not to make it a ball and chain. I love to type out my thoughts (it’s therapeutic for me) and I want to remain free. Don’t you want to be free?

• I think we need to blog smart, not hard.
• Have you ever noticed what films are the best and most memorable? The ones about real life.
• Fairy tale films can be fun, but real life stories are what warms our hearts and inspire us to connect with others.

This is how I view blogs. I don’t want the photoshopped magazine model style of bloggy ‘friends’ who are only my ‘friends’ if I frequent their blogs faithfully. Those aren’t real friends. They are the Mr. Smith’s of bloggy land the Matrix that want your money. They aren’t being real with you. If you knew the real them would you bother reading? Maybe some are trying to be real, but I’m willing to bet most aren’t. They need to keep your attention so the Matrix keeps working.

I want to know where the real moms are. I shared my thoughts on my Facebook wall and my friend Patricia said this;

“…tell me when you do something wrong…burn dinner…have a screaming fight with your husband or your kid cusses in church…believable vs the domestic tranquilly. That only exists when we abuse psychotropic drugs.”

I chuckled and almost spit my Diet Coke on the keyboard. Ya,….. so what do you do when your kid cusses in church? Most women are too embarrassed to admit this happens, but it does…we just get better at hiding it. We put on the masks and feathers while prancing ourselves around the Internet as if we have it all together. We all have dirty dishes and laundry piles that need our attention, just admit it. I’m kinda getting tired of reading blogs that tell me to clean the kitchen sink. I already know I need to do that. I want to connect with people..not DuPont Corian or the scrubbing bubble clan.

Well you know what? None of us have it all together. Maybe we’re lying to everyone (especially ourselves). We can be free by admitting it.  This is where the confession part comes in. Being honest is what frees us from bondage.

“Confess your faults one to another so you can be healed.” ~Apostle James

All of us have family and neighbors who annoy the dickens out of us. I know I know.. don’t name them or they might get upset and start a bloodline feud. Trust me, I know.  But really, who are we anyway? We’re not some made up movie characters with episodes of carefully planned out scripts to make people like the facade just so the advertisers get their money’s worth on the commercials.

Friends, I want you to make money. Really I do. I want to see you be successful, but mostly I want to see you happy. Don’t we all want to be happy? Is our blogging really making us happy? I’m just so tired of trying to keep up with the Jones’. They’re probably miserable as it is. Why should I try to be like them? I’d only end up miserable too.

Our identity isn’t in how much money we make, in how many readers comment or subscribe, or how many advertisements we can put in our side bar(and don’t get me started on those floating ads that block the article I’m trying to read. UGH!)

Our identity is in Christ.

Some say that Jesus came to show us how to relate to God, but I tend to think Jesus came so God could relate to us. He created us to be humans and our striving to be like God only puts us in bondage. He isn’t asking us to be like Him (we’re already created in His image), he is like us (real) and is wanting to know us for who we really are (human). When we are free to be ourselves all the time, then we are free to really enjoy God. We aren’t Adam who felt the need to hide and cover thimself. God knows us as we are. We’re only kidding ourselves by putting ‘coats’ on to cover our humanity. Do we veil ourselves behind a blog to hide our authenticity?

I’m not saying you should give up your blog, your dream, or your cash flow. Only a mind control bully manipulates you into doing that. Just be free to be yourself. Even Trisha is raw-goody honest and STILL has a successful blog. Isn’t that the way to go? Be free and be successful!

So that’s my raw-goody honest post for the week. I hope I didn’t step on many toes. It’s never my intention to squash someone, only to free them. We can be successful in everything we do, lets just be honest in doing it. This will help us to be the most free and give us the opportunity of enjoying it.

• We can re-prioritize our blogging to give way for more freedom and to make real down to earth friends.
• We don’t have to blog every. single. day. Sheesh! Give yourself and your readers a break.
• Plan Wordless Wednesdays, they’re simple and require very little effort.
• Take the weekend off and enjoy life. Encourage your readers to do the same.
• Schedule a few tweets to stay in touch. No need to get sucked into the black hole of Twitter.
• Don’t get discouraged. No one builds a huge cash flow from their blog over night. Don’t be so hard on yourself.

Lets enjoy our new fashioned identity, the real me..the real you.

Be free.

Each Monday I’ll share more raw-goody honesty and we can work through the chaos of life together in our new fashioned identity. Because life really is messy, and we are perfectly messy in his wonderful grace.

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