Rumors of My Demise…

Mark Twain’s quip about reports of his death having been exaggerated is one of my favorites.  It might fairly be applied to this blog.

When I started the blog over a year ago, my intent had been to post once a week and, for the most part, I sustained that pace…until I couldn’t.  And so, towards the end of June, I lost momentum and stopped. Sometimes that happens.

I spent a good bit of the summer nagging myself to start writing again.  Nagging oneself—or anyone for that matter—isn’t really a strategy that inspires motivation.

But then a letter arrived in the mail….

In the stack of post-Labor Day letters at the office was an envelope addressed to me marked “personal.”  

I don’t get a lot of these kinds of letters, but when I do I brace myself.  They generally contain angry missives about how either I, or my organization, have offended or sinned.  

I try to read these screeds with an open mind and heart.  They usually come from a place of pain having very little or nothing to do with me, or the organization I lead.  But somehow we’ve unintentionally pushed a button or torn a bandage off. Sometimes we’ve legitimately screwed up.

So, imagine my delight, dear reader, when the letter turned out to be from one of you!

The writer requested anonymity so I won’t share any details.  

Suffice it to say that the writer said some very nice things about this blog and even included a generous donation to Episcopal Relief & Development.  And no, it wasn’t from a family member.

It was from someone I didn’t know.  They wanted to thank me for one of my posts.

I hope I’m not as needy as this anecdote makes me out to seem.  But, the letter has given me a kick in the pants and, at least for the moment, the rumors of the demise of this blog have been exaggerated.

It also helps, I think, that I stopped writing for a while and spent the last week of August on a silent retreat.  That created some space for uncluttered and uninterrupted thinking and reading.

As I was ending my retreat I found that the fog in my brain had cleared.  And, lo and behold, I’d come up with a list of topics to write about that should keep me going for a while.

So, stay tuned.

And yes, as much as doing this for the glory of God should be motivation enough, your feedback (positive and negative) means a lot.  

Checks for Episcopal Relief & Development are nice too!