I started this blog about five years ago now. I didn’t have much of a vision at the time. I had no paying opportunities to write and a handful of aging publication credits to my name. So, I began the blog as a way to keep writing, even when no one was looking. 

Over the last five years, my blog has become the foundation of my writing life, with many facets leading out of it. Sometimes it’s been the only thing that has kept me centered as a writer. Those days when there were no projects on the horizon, and I made money wherever I could find it, my blog has kept me sane. 

Other times, I’ve felt like my entire life was spent at my keyboard, churning out sentences and paragraphs, and ideas for paying work. My head would ache at the end of a long day of searching for just the right way to say this or that. My eyes would water from staring at the computer screen for ten to twelve hours a day, every day, doing exactly what I was designed to do…write. And I was ever so grateful. In those days, my blog would sit sadly, unattended. I would occasionally post, but I could barely find the time to capture a thought worth saying. 

Now, five years into it, I have finally found the vision for my blog. I think I knew it all along, I think subconsciously.  I’m just finally able to articulate it. This blog is about the church of the everyday…essays and poetry on finding God and meaning in the (almost) everyday. 

God and meaning are in all things. Yet, sometimes life is messy and not spiritual at all. We are eternal creatures, yet we are earthbound, absorbed in our lives and the everyday. The balanced life is both—earthen and spiritual. I think that’s part of how God intended us to be. 

We enjoy a cup of coffee, a dip in the swimming pool, love, friendship, all for what they a are. Sometimes these things are spiritual. Sometimes they are not. And I think that’s the way Christianity should be enjoyed. 

I dislike the idea that one’s faith should be compartmentalized from the rest of life. A separate, private entity. But, I just as much dislike the idea that everything should be spiritual. That we should spend our entire earthly existence, looking for the otherworld. God gave us this world to enjoy, and to participate in. There is a balance. 

I often compare a healthy balance of faith and life to being part of one’s native culture. For example, if a person is, American, they typically don’t go around asserting this into every conversation, or even make, “being American,” the center of their lives. Their nationality is a a natural by-product of who they are, and informs their worldview. 

On the other hand, they cannot compartmentalize their nationality or culture, nor should they ever be made to feel they should. This would be insulting. Their nationality is part of who they are, and how they interact with the world, and their overall way of seeing things. 

The same is true of Christianity. One cannot “cease,” to be Christianity in one setting or another. It’s part of their make—up.. So, I believe such balance is necessary. 

My point here, is to explain my vision for the blog. Essays on God and meaning in everyday life.  Sometimes life is overtly spiritual, sometimes it’s not. Kudos to you if you’ve been following me, and have already figured it out. It took me five years.