Tag: blogging

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Humor

Broken Pages

These two pages should be more presentable now:

Pages on Hope
Pages on Prayer

I discovered last weekend that their behavior had deteriorated since they were first published. I didn’t know what could have sent them down the wrong path – they seemed to be perfectly good pages at first. But it was corruption on the inside, a corrupt Blog Post block, that was their downfall.

I have now rebuilt them with the noble Query Loop block, an intense and complex fellow, but very able. I expect them to now live long lives free from corruption. I commend them to you.

dw

Categories
Humor the real self

Dried apricots

My New Year’s non-resolution was to get up early enough to have time to write before I start work. You know, like serious writers are supposed to do…if you read all the books…(which I don’t).

I’m doing quite well with Part A – getting up early. For me, this is almost a miracle.

No, it is a miracle.

Part B has been another matter. I thought Part B had to do with this blog and my other blog (piano music) or maybe even a new blog I have in mind. It hasn’t turned out that way.

I’m an introvert whose life is way too busy. One generation before me, one just even with me, and two behind me – that’s a lot of people right there. No way am I missing out on all that fun. No way am I turning into an old codger.

(Codger – haven’t thought of that word in a long time.)

Where does an old potential-codger introvert, surrounded by generations of people, find a little nook in the space-time continuum to put one’s feet up, stare off into the distance, and realize how many muscles are knotted up and pinpoint exactly where they are?

I eat a lot of dried apricots – helps me keep my potassium from going low. (I get mine from Trader Joe’s – by far the best place I know of for dried fruit.) Some are soft and sweet and some are hard and don’t taste like much.

I become the second kind. When I don’t have time to myself. To just be and just do whatever my dried apricot soul feels like being and doing.

That’s what Part B has turned into.

And the surprise I wasn’t expecting:

my soul has been feeling like writing emails to people in those generations around me, connecting with them in new ways about what is going on in their lives;

praying for them much more than I ever had before

(and, alas, for people like Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, who I don’t even like to include in the same paragraph);

and just thinking about them and letting joy happen.

That’s it. My New Year’s non-resolution, unbeknownst to me and not part of my plan:

Make a little nook of space and time to let joy happen.

Grace and peace to you…

dw

Categories
Other Writings

A confession

Welcome to 2021

Can I confess something?

I spent 2020 doing a lot more thinking about writing this blog than actually writing and posting anything.

I felt less than good about it. My sincere apologies.

I could blame the blasted new WordPress block editor.

When you have only a few working brain cells left, like me…

When you are one of those peeps who read the instructions first, like me…

And the instructions are written assuming no one reads the instructions…

Learning the block editor is risky business. It might be the last thing you ever do.

On my gravestone: He almost learned the new block editor.

But there’s more to it, truth be told.

It wasn’t that I didn’t have new ideas to write about. There are plenty of those.

It wasn’t that I lost interest in blogging. I’m as motivated now as ever, maybe more so.

It felt like finishing a new post…well, somehow it felt like someone had set the bar higher while I wasn’t looking. I couldn’t jump over it as easily.

And I didn’t want to fail.

So I spent a lot of time just eyeing the bar, visualizing myself jumping over it.

I spent time cataloging all the times I had cleared the bar before, making those reruns more accessible.

I spent time thinking that another week has gone by and I haven’t contributed anything to my friends out there.

I spent time thinking how, if I just organized myself, I could do better.

You know what the real problem is?

My own pride.

My own need to think of myself as someone who always comes up with something clever…or beautiful…or (God help us) profound.

That’s the real problem.

I’ve come to realize I haven’t been willing to enter the blogosphere without my makeup on.

As if this blog were all about me. Which it isn’t.

(Confession over.)

No confession is worth its salt without some sort of corrective action; going forward you will see me endeavor to repent.

I hope you will stick with me, because it might not be pretty.

No, it most definitely will not be pretty.

Like this post right here.

My first of 2021.

Welcome to 2021.

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Uncategorized

Turning a new page

Pages on Prayer

I mentioned some time back that I’m looking into ways I can make becomingflame.com more helpful. A step in that direction is this new page on prayer. I offer it with the prayer that God might use it in ways only God can imagine. Grace and peace to you…dw

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Current Events Music

Things are a’changin

Forgive my poor allusion to Bob Dylan’s great song (which I think is at least as appropriate now as it was in 1964). It’s probably worth hearing again:

Speaking of change, though…

After two-and-a-half years of working on this blog – and enjoying every minute of it – I’m starting to think about what I could do differently; how can I share what’s on my heart and mind more effectively, more faithfully?

I’m not talking about making it commercial or more glitzy and I’m not interested in “going viral.”

But could I make Becoming Flame something better, more engaging, a better help to folks who are looking for conversation and encouragement on their journey through and toward Life, toward God?

I have some ideas I’m working  on and will share once they are ready. But I’d like to hear your thoughts, too: how could Becoming Flame be more useful to you or to people you know?

Thank you for reading – it’s a joy to know that what I share here makes a difference.

Grace and peace to you…

dw