Decade

Ten years is a long time. Many phases of our childhood and young adult life are less than a decade: elementary, Jr. high, high school and usually college are all shorter than a decade. Even in those seasons of life it "feels" like such a long time. Then those phases are complete and we have Adulthood: decades, Lord willing, of our lives. We can spend decades at a job, in a home, in a marriage, raising children, building friendships, serving through church. So many aspects of our lives simply flow into decades; sometimes it happens without us even noticing.

A few weeks ago, I listened to a podcast and they mentioned they had been blogging for a decade. I thought, "Wow, that's a long time!" Then I thought about it, and I have been blogging - granted off and on- for A DECADE! How did that happen? Well, the beginnings of my adult life happened during that time so I can see why the whole "blogging for a decade" wasn't as momentous as say: graduating college, my first teaching job, Pete finding a good job, buying and selling of homes, first child, second child, and said children entering school. Many, many "life events" have happened in the past ten years (with marriage being two years before I started my blog.) Through it all, I'm glad I was blogging (or attempting) because I have many of those moments recorded in written words.

My first blog post was an introduction and declaration that "I will now blog things!" So it began and has continued for ten years!  I have only changed the name of the url once and the name of the blog once. Considering how often I thought about changing it up, I will call that well balanced. There were years where I posted every other day or so and there are years with four or five posts TOTAL! But I never gave up and deleted everything. I have had probably a few loyal readers - mostly my family and a few friends - but also a few random strangers have read my blog. I love looking through the archive. I now view it as a sort of "monument of stones" to tell of all the ways God had been present in my life. I can look back and share with my kids of the prayers answered, the fun times, and the trying times too.

Though instagram now has provided an outlet for me to share moments more quickly; the blog will always be the place I write. I have tried journals over the years and other writing forms but I return to the blog every time. There have been many times I've wondered why I return to the blog. I mean, I don't have a huge readership. I don't even have a good purpose for this blog - ten years later. But I am learning and changing with every post I write and to me that is encouraging and freeing. The podcast I mentioned earlier is titled "Should you blog?" I have had that thought many times and have always, so far, come to the conclusion Yes! For me, blogging is not dead and still provides value. It may not provide an income for me as I hear happens for many women. But it provides a place for me to write and encourage others and also document the moments in the decades where God has provided and is always faithful.

Thank you for reading! If you have a blog, leave a comment with how long you have been blogging. Do you still blog or did you stop? What draws you to a blog over and over again or what do you hope brings others to your blog?