Image from http://couragehopestrength.tumblr.com
I was going through followers the other day and noticed some blogs that were “last updated 6 months ago” or longer. There were a lot of these.
Maybe they got bored or distracted or busy — but my guess is they probably didn’t get the huge number of likes and follows and reblogs they were expecting, and just gave up.
Please don’t do that. There are very few things we do consistently in this life. We’re quick to jump from island to island of halfway commitment. Taking a break is totally okay: but I exhort you to persist in sharing your one unique voice with the world community.
If you’re about to jump ship: please do NOT bail on your blog. Do what you must — take a sabbath, go on hiatus, commune with nature, restore relationships, try new things — but come back and tell us about it.
It doesn’t matter if you only have a few readers. You’re not doing it for that. And even if you were, those few people who follow you might really be encouraged by what you have to say. You might be the only one saying it.
But more than that: your blog is a captured snapshot of your one fleeting transitory life, like the dust mote suspended in a sunbeam that shimmers for a spectacular moment in time. It is beauty wrapped in expression, and you are putting something into the world that no one else can. God made you for it.
So keep sharing. Keep making art. Keep writing music. Keep taking pictures. Keep encouraging others. In some small way: you are healing your part of the universe. You are needed more than you know. You are making a bigger impact than you think.
— J.S.
J.S. Park: Hospital Chaplain 
Thanks for the words of encouragement!
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Man, thank you so much JS! I just pondered on how I get distracted and worry and end up NOT writing…my blog is a good gauge of my focus, and I even think it is a bit of a prayer time for me.
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That’s awesome, I’ve never heard it that way before …!
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Thanks bro and the same to you. It’s great to read your encouragements…especially when other media (esp the news) can be so negative. Keep shining too!
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This helped me today. I often feel that my blog is irrelevant, and at the same time, I really enjoy observing my own writing! All the while, I am fighting the urge to believe that I am deluded by my own since of helping myself — and if for no other reason — this proving of a good effect is a good enough reason to carry on with a blog.
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Imagine fifty years ago when blogs didn’t exist and individuals couldn’t measure themselves on this weird scale of “site stats.” I think we’re too hard on ourselves about this. I had to quit caring long ago about that. While we will care at least a little, it can’t control whether we write or not. If no one ever saw another thing we wrote, I would hope we continue to write anyway.
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Yes, it’s worth it anyway. Thanks again.
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Good Morning
Thank you for the great reminders – although I would love to say I do not look at the numbers of readers, unfortunately, I do.
I am currently taking a break from my Blog (writing)
I’ve struggled with my reasons for writing
I take a break when I do not feel the Holy Spirit leading
but I also struggle with the feelings of inadequacy
Thanks so much for the encouragement
God Bless
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Come back when you’re ready …!
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Blessings to you on your continued work for the Lord
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Great encouragement for all of out here in the blogosphere!
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Thanks! I needed that.
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Thanks! I’m enjoying blogging so much, but sometimes I feel like a needle in a haystack. What makes me think I have something to say?
Well, “I have a voice!” as the King says in “The King’s Speech”.
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One of my absolute favorite scenes. And we don’t need to be kings and queens to have a voice, either.
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This echoes my own experience. So often the blogs that “drop off” are the ones that touched me deeply.
I’m really struggling, not with my blog, but keeping up with my blogging community! So many good people writing so many good things and time, well…
Peace
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When you think about it, the Bible is a record of people’s lives. While our blogs are not necessarily “written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit,” I’ll bet we’ll discover that they’re an extension of the Word in some amazing way when we get Home. Maybe we’re saving some “angelic biographer” the trouble of writing things down as we record our lives here in Blogtopia! 🙂
Probably not, but it adds a little “weight” to the significance of what we do, eh?
\o/
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Cool way to look at it. I’m sure there will be plenty that we’ll feel embarrassed about, and sometimes the blogosphere feels like the grocery store where there is so much junk to choose from. Yet by the grace of God we occasionally get it right. 🙂
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Encouraging words…thanks for sharing. I had abandoned my blog for quite a while but decided to get back into it. I used to embarrassed by my writing but now I realize that only practise makes it perfect. I don’t have many followers and comments, but that’s ok. I write stuff that I would like to read and most times it’s the best kind of writing I do.
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Blogging sounds like a great medium to reach people or even for self reflection but knowing myself I wouldnt be able to keep up with it and it would end up ignored after 2 blogs. Plus I’m afraid that what I say might re surface and bite me in the rear. I wouldnt want to mislead a younger individual by a tunnel visioned rant.
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I’ve been blogging for over ten years, before blogging became “cool.” No one even read my stuff for the first eight years, and I learned it was as much an online diary of memories as it is an apparatus to reach others. And yes, rants happen: but that’s okay sometimes. The deepest, rawest parts of us are also what makes us human — and if we end up sounding bigoted or polemical, it is also our God-ordained duty to apologize and learn from our ignorance.
I don’t think everyone needs to blog: but if you feel led, go for it.
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I too appreciated the encouragement. I find that putting my thoughts down and sharing them solidifies them. It’s also a good “cloud storage” for my poetry, etc. Leaving comments on someone else’s blog is a way to encourage them. Sharing my own little enlightenments may enlighten someone else.
When I get discouraged and want to give up, it’s usually because of time pressures. I often have to remind myself that Jesus WALKED–and He carried out the greatest, most important work ever done in this world.
I’m sorry I can’t visit your blog more often, but the browser on my main computer just won’t bring me here. I have to get out my laptop to check out some sites.
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Right on, and no worries.
The blog community can be insane sometimes, but can also be a huge source of encouragement and fellowship. A fine line. I just hope the encouraging voices stay encouraged themselves.
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Thanks for the encouragement, I am inspired to keep sharing with others, Bless you.
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Thanks so much! This is so true. I always figure of nobody else is affected by it, God and I are! Makes it worth the doing.
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It’s funny, I also replied the first time you posted this. Still seems like new, good advice to me. 😀
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Awesome. 🙂
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I am this person. The last post on my blog is from January 13. I tried to revive it at the beginning of the year and just got distracted. And before that I had stopped around April of last year. I’m horribly disciplined and it shows on my blog.
You’ve encouraged me with this, bro. I’m gonna give it another go. 🙂
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Hey Rod! Glad you’re back at it. A long break can be very necessary. Hope you continue to fight the good fight of grace on your blog!
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Thanks, brother!
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Dear JS, thank you for your encouraging post. Too often, i allow those voices from the past to convince me that i have nothing worth saying (or doing). Hardest thing about following Christ is: i have to forgive “them people.” i’m not there yet.
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Encouraged. 🙂
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