11 Years of Blogging

“Where did you learn that?” I have often asked one or another family member who tells me something that sounds questionable. “Was it on a blog? You know, you shouldn’t trust bloggers.”

That’s my joke, since I’m a (gulp) blogger myself. But I’m also serious because, really, anybody and his half step uncle can write a blog.

I’ve been writing this blog (is that the proper way to phrase it?) for 11 years now. And I’ve often asked myself why I do it. Why do I blog? (Still can’t stand the sound of that word.)

A Needful Thing

I need to write. I’ve known this about myself since I was quite young. There is a deep need within me to record and lay out my thoughts somehow, to put my thoughts down on paper or at least on a digital screen. When I am feeling out of sorts, it’s usually because I haven’t written anything in a while, and when I return to my words I feel like myself again. Writing helps me process everything that I witness and experience, it’s like a thinking process that’s out loud — out loud here meaning in black and white. I could just think. (I do love to think and think upon something.) But writing down my thoughts is different somehow. It’s more like communication.

I could’ve written about anything in a blog, but I chose to write about my life as a Christian consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This not only fulfills my need to write, especially to write in a communicative type of way (that means with you, dear reader), but also fulfills another very, very needful thing — the most needful thing of all: communication with God.

Now I’m not going to tell you that God speaks to me. Well, okay, God does speak to me but not in any amazing Moses kind of way — God speaks to me exactly the way God speaks to you. Most of the time, I don’t know what God wants to say to me, probably because, most of the time, I’m not trying to seek out what God wants to say. I’m not asking and listening. I do have to say that when I ask and listen in prayer, I don’t hear much anyway, I don’t get what God wants me to know. I might say, “God, what do you want me to do?” I wait for an answer, and I only hear crickets.

But when I write… Again, please understand that I am not saying that I write anything that is somehow divinely inspired. The Holy Spirit is at work within me as much as He is within you — when we let Him. Most of the time, I’m in my own little world doing my own little thing, or I’m laughing or maybe even arguing with people around me. Sometimes, when I am quiet by myself and praying, I do sense some kind of communion with God through prayer, which is a gift offered to all of us. But when I write… When I write I feel like I write down things that I need to know, that God wants me to know. They don’t simply come from my own brain, but from my soul, or maybe my heart — for it’s the heart in which God and I dwell together alone. That’s where you and God dwell together as well, dear reader: in your heart.

So, I think my answer to why I’m still blogging after 11 years is that I need to. I need God to help me process this little life of mine, to sift through the troubles and find the treasures that He has created for me. This blog (like my book) is filled with things that I need to know, that I need to remember. It’s more for me than for you.

But God does encourage us to share.

Christ the King

So, as I approach my 11^th anniversary of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the Feast of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, I praise and thank God for every good gift that He has given to me and my loved ones. This year, I am especially grateful for coming through a terrible sickness with my amazing parents at my side. As I was going through it, knowing that I was going to have to keep fighting for air until God saw me through the end of the virus, I felt an intimate gratitude for God’s love in His Sacred Heart. I would feel my ring on my finger with its symbol upon it and feel a desire to be even more devoted in my consecration. (One small thing I decided in that time was to give gifts of the Sacred Heart to some friends and family. Shh….)

Of course, those high moments when we feel and experience real connection with God are easily forgotten in the busy-ness of the world. I’m guilty of forgetting. I have let my sense of love and union wane. But I will not forget entirely. If nothing else, I will be a woman of my word. All for You, Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. And I will write down and share what I learn and what I experience in all of life’s ups and downs, because writing is what I am called to do.

Thank you for reading. That’s icing on the cake.

© 2024 Christina Chase

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Feature Photo by Matea Gregg on Unsplash