I Said I Would Never...

For many reasons. Ever.  Have a blog. I know…I’ve already told myself “I told you so” and “Never say Never”, but you can say it too if you want. It’s totally fine, in fact my husband would appreciate it so he’s not the only one telling me. Just like the time when I said I would never move right back in with my parents after collage. After spending two weekends looking around and pricing apartments where did I end up? Because I was going to save money? That’s a whole other story, and of course it ended up being the best thing for me.

Not in any particular order:

1.       I am NOT a writer. I mean the worst kind. In fact, I despise it and I’m sweating right now.

2.       Can’t I just pour my heart out here and forget all rules of Grammar? Will Adam have to proof-read every post since commas WILL be in all the wrong places?

3.       I know myself all too well to know that I probably won’t post on a regular basis or worse, possibly abandon the blog all together. Is it even worth starting?

4.       I’m pretty strange and have bizarre thoughts All. The. Time.

5.       Posts wouldn’t be pretty. Random posts that aren’t well thought out and/or jump from subject to subject because I have self-diagnosed adult ADD.

But, then I found out about this little jewel. http://blog2print.sharedbook.com/blogworld/printmyblog/index.html

I love my family and we are making so many sweet memories that shouldn’t I just have a private blog solely for that purpose because I am not crafty and do not have much of a scrapbooking bone in my body? I don’t want to regret not documenting these precious moments. Although, Pinterest is going to make me a crafty person-I’m sure of it. See I told you I’d bounce.

Then, two summers ago (yes I said two) I was in the middle of an Angela Thomas Bible study. It was the one based on the Sermon on the Mount titled “Living Your Life as a Beautiful Offering”. One of the homework days was titled “Common Salt”. I literally felt God whisper “Ashley, this will be the title for your blog”.  It was strange. I laughed out loud and said, “Oh, I’m sorry you must be mistaken. I don’t blog. My best friends blog. I read blogs. But, I do not blog.” Ya’ll, I am not kidding. He then said, “Sweetheart, I don’t make mistakes”.  I was silent.

In the study, Angela talked about Matthew 5:13. She explained that salt purifies and preserves, but not in the shaker. To be effective, salt must be rubbed into the meat. It must be rubbed into a dying world, interacting and loving right along with it. Sometimes we find ourselves in places that need salt, but we don’t allow ourselves to be rubbed in. Salt provides flavor—God flavor. Salt makes you thirsty. Don’t I want to be thirsty for Christ? Don’t I want everyone else to be thirsty with me?

She goes on to explain that salt is such a common substance. We use it every day. Well, I am a pretty common person I thought. We live a pretty common life. I am on maternity leave right now and I am sitting on the couch still in my pajamas- it is lunchtime. I am sleep deprived because Claire decided to wake up at 3 a.m. this morning. I forgot about the towels in the washing machine this weekend and they mildewed. I need to re-wash them. My two girls are screaming hungry and I just got onto the dog for licking the couch. Gross. And, I really need to make out the grocery list (that I was supposed to do last night) so that Adam can go when he gets off work. Can God use me? ME? US? Lord, I am sooo common and uneventful. Would I even be rubbing in the right kind of salt?   

After I had that conversation with God, I got right on it.

 I wish.

 Instead, I pushed back and pushed back and pushed back. For TWO years mind you. What is wrong with me? I wrote blog posts in my head and still did nothing about it. My friend Aaryn, that taught beside me, used to laugh every day at Adam and me. She said she had never met anyone that took so long to make a decision (we were trying to buy a camera and a car during this time—those are big decisions!) Well, it still took us over a year to figure out what to do about a vehicle. J As Adam would say, we are not impulsive people and we like to let things marinate for a while.

So I took a baby step today and wrote this post. I am so glad our God is patient with me.

Pass the Salt,

Ash