3. Don’t chase people on the highway.
Someday, I hope my wife will write a blog. I say that because she is constantly dropping wisdom on me. (Hott wisdom in fact.) And one of the things she said is something I can’t tell you about enough. It’s a thought on hate mail and troll commenters. For a while, when someone would anonymously slam me on this site, I would sit at the dinner table completely absorbed in trying to understand why this stranger hated me. I’d miss moments with my family as I obsessed about the mean comment. My wife snapped me out of it when she told me, “Look Jon, you worrying about why some anonymous person hates you is like following some car on the highway that flipped you off. It’s like you knocking on their window when they pull over and saying ‘Hey, I saw you flipped me off back on the highway. I’m actually a pretty good guy, could I tell you about myself please?’” I’d never do that on the road, why should I do that online? Don’t chase people on the highway.
4. Just publish.
I learned something simple a while ago. When it comes to blogs, 80% perfect and published will always change more hearts than 100% perfect and stuck in your head. We forget that sometimes and get bent out of shape manicuring and fixing our words as if perfect is possible. It’s not. Perfect is a myth. It’s a poisonous myth. Don’t give in to it. Just publish.
---These two have been true in my own life. I have a tendancy to want people to understand and be changed by what I have to say, but sometimes it is best just to not "chase them down the highway". Not everyone will be willing to listen or conpelled to change their mind. My hope is that I will be able to put a stone in their shoe (HT Greg Koukl) and that they will have something to think about.
The second (or 4th) is important and a problem for me because I can be perfectionistic and want things just right. In the past this would hold me up, because I would not attempt anything because i was afraid I would fail, so I would frequently not even get started. It wasn't until recently that I began getting more involved. I learned to play an instrument, I started this blog (almost 5 years ago now) and I try to engage people more (at least in writing).
It is scary, and I fail often, but I am striving to refine my writing, but because of this blog, somtimes I just write what comes to mind- again this can be good and bad. Good because it gets me writing and flowing. Bad because I often have to go back and change, revise or fix my thoughts to make them more clear.
But here's another cool thing I have learned. In my weakness, God is made strong. And His grace is sufficient for me. And I am free to sometimes change my mind. If I were to cling onto thoughts and views that I did when I was young and foolish, that would be silly.
DB
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