There is something I have noticed about blogging, the diversity. The diversity among bloggers is so rich and beautiful, but at the same time it can become a hindrance to some bloggers. Not that diversity of itself is a hindrance, but how it is viewed is what causes some blogs to stumble. Many bloggers may use the term ‘marketing’ or ‘networking’, but ‘evangelism’ fits too. In all my years of evangelism in different faith camps and marketing business alongside my husband, I will do my best to share what I believe are the best ways to let your ‘light’ shine in the blogosphere. Whether you want to evangelize your Gospel, your talents, your recipes, etc.,  these principles can apply. The foundation of these principles is always going to be on how you lay out your philosophy for blogging and how you build upon that with your relationships. Lets begin by acknowledging the problem presented today, then we can move beyond the problem and into the solution.

From what I have noticed, the stumbling happens when people are afraid of diversity. When we block attempts to get along with diverse bloggers, our circle of influence as bloggers begins to diminish. In the end, it puts us in stagnant blog waters and cliques begin to germinate and fester, resulting in the need to amputate if we are going to survive.

I don’t think this is an isolated case among the religious community, as a matter of fact, I see it happening in other non-religious circles too. Since my readership here is diverse, I will do my best to use teachings of faith and philosophy with various examples and illustrations to get my point across.

I understand the teaching in religious camps of avoiding those who disagree… it comes from “how shall two walk together unless they agree”. But in my opinion, that passage of various ‘holy books’, is taken out of context. Even Paul said that “division” (or those who disagree) are allowed to be among us so that those who are genuine can be made manifest by the disagreements. However, that is not to say that when we openly disagree, that ‘we’ will be seen as genuine. No, not at all. It’s HOW we disagree that brings light to a situation, but I’ll talk about that more in another article. When we isolate our blogs to ONLY the niche that agrees with us, we will only grow ‘so far’ before the ‘shrine of agreement’ begins to falter. And how shall a light be hid under a bushel of ‘yes bloggers’ when it should be set on a hill top?

My dear friends, the lighthouse doesn’t only shine in one camp like an isolated flashlight, it shines to the open seas so all may see it. So the question really comes down to this, what do we fear?

Are we afraid that the light will draw the ‘bugs’ of the world to flutter about us? Do moths, scarabs, June Bugs, and all ‘creepy’ things scare you? Life will always be drawn to the light, for in the light is where life grows. So do not be afraid to let your ‘light’ shine in all places.

Here are some simple confident tips that I have applied to my blogging.

1. Take your light with you and move about the blogosphere. Jesus is embraced by many as the Light and he did not stay in one place for very long. He kept traveling about the earth, visiting every place he could find. If you don’t believe in Jesus, take the earth as an example, it rotates itself every 24 hours and circles the sun ever 365 days. If the earth stood still, a portion of the earth would be burned and destroyed. Keep moving!

2. Be friendly to everyone. We don’t have to openly disagree with people in a pitiful attempt to prove our ‘doctrine’ is ‘right’ and theirs is ‘wrong’. Just love your bloggy neighbor and let the Divine/Their Conscience do the work in them. Leave comments about the context of the articles you read. Reply kindly on Twitter. Be cordial, courteous, and pleasant. You won’t attract bloggy bees with vinegar. Your ‘doctrine’ might be your blog philosophy, your way of posting recipes, or whether or not you use cloth diapers. Whatever your niche is, be kind in conveying your views and let people make up their own minds and follow their own conscience. (In other words, don’t try to be everyone’s Jiminy Cricket, rather be a Rafiki who offers advice kindly and let them decide what they want.)

3. Realize you do NOT own the blogosphere. It is not in our best interest to attempt to own every reader out there. We don’t own anyone. So don’t treat them as if you do. No need to be a Maleficent. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather are much more pleasant to be around.

4. Do not cause trouble. We all have our perspectives about life, but it is not meek spirited to go to another blog community and attempt to divide their camaraderie. We don’t establish good friendships with people we have busted apart. Don’t be a Nancy Olsen!

5. Embrace diversity. Just because you leave a comment on a blog that is of another faith, does not mean you agree with everything they write about. Leaving supportive comments about the things you do agree on, is not going to hurt you or others. You won’t cause someone to “stumble” by being friendly to others. Yes, this means you CAN leave comments on a blog written by an Atheist, a homosexual, or even *GASP* a witch. Jesus, Gandhi, and even Merlin were kind to those they crossed paths with. You may not put a lot of stock in these three men, but they DID make it into the history books.

There is nothing to fear but fear itself. When we blog (walk) in fear then we will falter and stumble ourselves. Walk(blog) in confidence and love and you will see growth blossoming in your blog community. I’ll be sharing more about widening your blog reach without compromising your faith (or niche) in upcoming posts. It won’t matter which faith you follow, the principles will still apply. You can subscribe at the top right of my blog to stay updated.

{photo credit Marsha at Pix-O-Sphere}

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