Photo Credit: Dave Richmond

It’s been a while. Nearly six months have passed since I have written anything other than a sermon or lesson. I even thought of pulling the plug on this blog. It’s not that I don’t have opinions. I do. It’s not that I haven’t had any ideas. I have. It’s not that I haven’t had people asking me when I’m going to write again. I have (and thank you for all the words of encouragement). It really boiled down to two words for me. Two words that formed a question that both challenged and deflated me. Two words that I have wrestled with for months on end.

“Who cares?”

Maybe every writer wrestles with that question. It sticks like a needle in your left ventricle. Especially in this modern information age. Blogs are a dime a dozen. Everyone has a voice. The uneducated, uninformed, and unskilled are given the same credibility as those who have worked in their field for decades. The cacophony of the masses threatens to drown out every voice, especially the voices worth hearing. So as ideas like “alternate facts” and “fake news” became reality, the question of, “who cares?” weighed on me heavily. And as soon as it took root, other questions began to follow:

“Am I adding anything new or of value to the topic at hand?”

“Will this have a positive impact on my readers, or will they check the word count and dismiss it as TLR (too long to read)?”

“Is this going to make a difference at all?”

It’s a hard place for a writer to find himself; doubting every word on the screen and hitting the delete button more than any other key.

A New Hobby

This past Christmas my wife surprised me with a new guitar. I don’t play, but I always wanted to learn. So for the last seven months I have been learning chords, developing calluses, and even learning a few (very) basic songs from my second daughter.

I’m not good at it. I won’t be making YouTube videos of riffs and licks anytime soon. I mess up more than I succeed.

So why do it? Because I enjoy it. It’s fun. It’s for my personal fulfillment.

And it only took me six months to apply that same principle to writing. I finally discovered the magic answer to those two haunting words.

Who cares? I do. I care because writing makes me happy. It helps me clarify my thoughts, and through writing I connect to God with my mind as well as my heart.

Will I blog more? Maybe. I have other writing projects that have been derailed by that dubious two-word query. I have only recently picked those up again. But rest assured, I’m writing again, not for you, but for me.