{"id":8105,"date":"2012-03-05T07:00:14","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/?p=8105"},"modified":"2013-01-01T19:14:23","modified_gmt":"2013-01-02T00:14:23","slug":"when-your-blog-is-not-on-a-blog-roll-guest-post-anita-mathias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/when-your-blog-is-not-on-a-blog-roll-guest-post-anita-mathias\/","title":{"rendered":"When your Blog is not on a Blog Roll (Guest Post, Anita Mathias)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Welcome to our first guest contributor in our series Spiritual Guidance for Bloggers<\/strong><\/em>, celebrated author\u00a0Anita Mathias<\/a>. Anita is originally from Jamshedpur, India, she went to a Himalayan boarding school, spent a number of years in the U.S. and now\u00a0lives in Oxford, England. So, obviously, in one fell swoop this series is now officially an international one!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For a partial list of future contributing writers click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anita is tackling the spiritual hazards of the elusive\u00a0blogroll. See, as a blogger you tend to enjoy finding yourself listed and linked with people you admire.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Have you ever felt like missing a slot on a blogroll was the emotional equivalent to being the leftover that no one wanted for their dodgeball team in gym class? Take it away, Anita…<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You know that awkward moment, when you check a blogroll, kind of hoping you\u2019ll be on it, and well\u2014you\u2019re not?<\/p>\n

And your heart sinks.<\/p>\n

And you say\u2026.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Well, 20 years ago–forget that, 2 years ago, if I were blogging then–I would have heard the word of torment, the word of the accuser of the brethren, the word of demand: MORE.<\/p>\n

Blog\u00a0more,<\/strong>\u00a0comment\u00a0more,<\/strong>\u00a0network\u00a0more.<\/strong>\u00a0Get your name out there\u00a0more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Demon whispers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I hear them, I hear them, and as Odysseus poured wax into the ears of his sailors so they\u2019d be proof against the song of the sirens<\/p>\n

I pour honey into my ears,<\/p>\n

The honey of truth.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

And this is what the Lover of Anita says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho gave human beings their mouths? Is it not I, the LORD?\u00a0<\/em>12<\/sup><\/em>\u00a0Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.\u201d Exodus 4:11-12<\/em><\/p>\n

And I still say\u00a0More,<\/em>\u00a0but it\u2019s not a fist-clenched anxious mor<\/em>e.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a hands open, humble one.<\/p>\n

More<\/strong>\u00a0of your spirit, Lord,\u00a0more\u00a0<\/strong>of you. Help me believe more <\/strong>deeply for you said:<\/p>\n

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”<\/em>(John 7:38).<\/p>\n

Ah, give me that, Lord. Streams of living water flowing through my blog, flowing to find readers to bless. And if my blog blesses people, well, I guess I don\u2019t deeply care about blog-rolls.<\/p>\n

Ah, let me swim, oh Lord, in the waters from your sanctuary. For it is written of the river which flows from your sanctuary:\u00a0Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(Ezekiel 47: 12).<\/p>\n

To grow in the waters of Spirit which flow from your sanctuary, and to bear fruit each month, fruit for food and leaves for healing\u2014fruit from the Spirit!! And when you are swimming in the waters which flow from the sanctuary, when the tree of your life grows in it, and bears fruit every month\u2014well then, blogrolls are secondary.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

And I bring you again the two loaves and five fish of my talent. And I see you bless it. And, ouch, I see you break it.<\/p>\n

And it doesn\u2019t resemble the way I hoped to write, the way I planned to write, the way I was taught to write, the way I used to write.<\/p>\n

And you\u2014YOU distribute the loaves of words which have come from brokenness and quietness, words you have whispered to me in my distress\u2014and seeing them read, I am satisfied.<\/p>\n

I smile if I am on a blogroll,<\/p>\n

And am still satisfied if I am not,<\/p>\n

Because hearing, overhearing and recording your whispers, Lord,<\/p>\n

That is the greatest work you have ever given me!!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0Anita Mathias is the author of Wandering Between Two Worlds<\/a>,” (Benediction Classics, 2007) and blogs at\u00a0Dreaming Beneath the Spires<\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n
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