When I started my blog, it was to capture our life moments.
To be an online journal/catalog/scrapbook, of sorts, for us Bishops.
A place for me to write, and think, and share our life with family, friends, and now my new blogging friends.
The beauty of blogging is that I have been so RADICALLY blessed by the creativity, ingenuity, craftiness, preschool curriculum & craft inspiration, cooking-abilities/recipes, photography skills, Mommy-moments & Mommy-advice of other bloggers....
The danger of blogging is that I have COMPARED MYSELF at times with others.
I'm just being honest.
And, I feel like there might be some reading that can possibly relate???
If so, do as I did and read 2 Corinthians 10.
Meditate on the danger and misdirection of comparing yourself, or others, with anyone else.
The blogging world is wonderfully, fantastically,
inspirationally [is that a word?], great!
But, it is also filled with self-promotion, competition,
favorite sites, unfound treasures & the forgotten sites.
Seems you need one project that is amazing to make a name for yourself.
You can generate income and add sponsors.
All of this crept into my heart last week and I was consumed.
Yuck!
So, my reminder to myself....
1) Don't blog for anyone but yourself and your family...
and let others enjoy the ride :)
2) Be Janiene...one of the Bishop Bunch!
I love to craft and I love to be crazy with my kids.
My about me tab has some fun info on who I am.
I am reminded to stay true to me!
3) Be content with my broken camera that sucks the life out of batteries because we have to use this funky twisted spring to even get it to notice a battery. I am still capturing moments that we will look back on with smiles and tears. Thank you Lord for my camera - I truly am grateful!
4) Spend more time being an inspiration to my kids than wanting to be an inspiration to the blogisphere.
5) Glean from others' blogs -
I am a copycat crafter, not an original trend-setter...
and I am ok with that! :)
So,
this morning,
my kids and I were having fun just being us!
E writing a letter to his best friend Kai...
We made chocolate mousse desserts during cooking time.
YUMMY!
Owen stacked some blocks...
Ethan did a lesson on lower case letters...
If you read this and made it this far,
blessings to you!
I pray our lives reflect Jesus to you.
Click on the "about me" &
the "what do I still lack" tabs
to learn more about my love for my GREAT GOD
and how you can have it too :)
Blessings,
Janiene
Great advice! You have a beautiful family and a great perspective! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you Briana! Blessings to you :)
DeleteYes and amen! We need to be checking our motives and seeing that God and His glory is the first and only motivation. I am blessed to be a part of this journey called life with you friend. Thank you for sharing your heart.
ReplyDeleteThanks Erin. I am so thankful for you and the friendship God has blessed us with. You are one that encourages me and protects my heart. Love you dear friend!
DeleteThis is wonderful advise!! It is so hard not to compare when we see so many great things out there! I too started my blog so I could share what was going on in our lives with family and friends. Your post really puts things in perspective!!
ReplyDeleteI love you blog. You are encouragement to me as well! Thanks for stopping by and leaving this sweet comment. I was so thankful that the Lord showed me my error quickly and that I was able to release it and refocus on why I am doing this in the first place :)
DeleteBlessings to you blogging friend!
Janiene
**advice....you think I would check before I hit the publish button to see if I had any typos..hee.
ReplyDeleteI have definitely had my moments of comparing and self-doubt because of blogging. I used to be plagued with the need to check my numbers and statistics every day. I used to feel stress over having some super cool idea that no one else has ever done. It can drive a girl crazy! Around Christmas time last year I started paying attention to how much time I was spending on the computer every day, linking up to all the parties and visiting blogs from the link parties. I realized I had lost the spirit I had started blogging with and it wasn't fun anymore. Once I started blogging for myself again and not worrying about how many posts I had every week or how many comments I got, I finally found peace again within myself. Truth be told, I rarely link up anymore, and if I do, it's only on the weekends.
ReplyDeleteThe crazy part is that when I take the numbers and the popularity out of the equation, I always have more ideas and have so much more fun with my kids. And most of the time, I miss the days of my private family blog where I wrote down all the stories and poured out the good & bad times of Motherhood. Even though no one read it and it was hidden from the World, it was so fulfilling. Can I tell you a secret....If I could take it all back (I Heart Crafty Things) I think I would....
thank you for this! we are so similar and I truly thank God for you my dear blogging-friend. Once I released the yuckness to God I got excited about The Bishops again and what made us, us! From that point I have just been having fun posting and being myself.
DeleteHere's to being us and not caring if anyone thinks twice about us! We know our husbands and children adore us - and well, that is pretty great!
BIG hugs to you my friend!
Janiene
And that might have just been the longest comment in the history of blogging. :)
ReplyDeletehahahaha, you are the best!
DeleteLove this Janiene! I think you are right on with this. I am too a copycat crafter and very rarely do I come up with anything that hasn't already been done! And although my blog isn't a family blog, it's still hard to keep true to yourself when there's so much out there telling you to keep up. Thanks for the reminder that God and our families should be our only focuses and the rest is just for FUN (and shouldn't be stressful!). God bless you my friend!
ReplyDeleteP.S Way to go Ethan! Great writing!
xo, Barbara
Our God is so good to keep us focused and simple :)
DeleteI love your blog Barbara. I think God has blessed you with great talents! The theme verse on your page is perfect!
Let's enjoy blogging and not be consumed by anything but God!! :)
Blessings to you as well my friend!
Janiene
Amen to that!! I got too focused on my numbers that I got sooo overwhelmed and actually thought about leaving the blog world again. So I took a different route and took a blog vacay... didn't work because I was still being harrassed by other bloggers about their buttons not being up and that I wasn't available. They would email me over and over about: "where is my button?? I thought we were swapping/sponsoring!!!!!!!" Ummmm... I am on vacay DUH! And your month was up so therefor, it rotated. Reason why I no longer provide sponsoring. I just wanna blog darn it! Get stuff off my chest and do cool link ups and post tons of pins!! LOL
ReplyDelete