a coming-to...if you will

i had a moment on friday night that was a slight call to repentance--which i am grateful for.

so i recently ranted, raved, got up in your face posted about social media and my frustrations with it. i don't retract my statement--not by any means--but let me just soften it. for a second. then i'll be done and we'll move away. not from here (or wherever you are), just away from the subject. because it's kinda upsetting to me. but i want to explain myself and make it right. that's all.

so a dear family member and i were talking about blogging. i asked if she'd visited a certain site; she hemmed and hawed and chose her words carefully before honestly saying that the webpage I was referring to her was a little "too much" for her. it was too... it just wasn't real. i had this coming-to moment and realized that i need to make some changes myself regarding my usage of social media. let me back up.

very recently, i was telling my roommate that i've discovered that i'm a way intense person. like...really intense. i never realized that before! she always tell me about how the girls in her family are tough and just...intense. strong. extreme. fierce.... anyways, i identified that intensity her and in her sisters, but then i slowly realized that i, too, exhibit similar characteristics.

i'm okay with it. really. i'm okay with being an intense person. BUT. since i'm new to this game of intense people, i do recognize the need to tame certain aspects of my ser so that I don't impose my intense-ness on others.

the whole purpose of my post was that we should use social media for meaningful things. on friday, however, i realized that putting intense feelings on a blog isn't normal or natural or even enjoyable to read. i bet it's be "too much"!

i realized on friday that our blogs should be like normal life and our conversation. it's not normal or natural or intended that we alllllllways be talking about the gospel or about spiritual experiences. sure it's good subject matter, but we need to be balanced! we need to sit back! laugh! dance! make jokes! hike! be silly! try new recipes! hunt or whaaatever it is! if i'm always waaaaaay intense with people (in conversation or on my blog), i'm probably going to do more damage than if i was just being normal and equilibrilized (not a word). am i making sense?

so. i know you probably don't currrrr, but i'm finally getting it. blogging can be good. it has potential. if it's real. then it's awesome. if it's something you can connect with, make you laugh, make you cry, uplift you, make you feel better about life--then great. if it's preachy, then what's the point? no one likes that! i don't mean to be that way and i don't mean to be so in-your-cyber-face, but i just... i just feel so intensely and so incredibly ridiculously indescribably passionately about it!

but. balance. it's a good thing. so i hereby dedicate this blog to the building up of the kingdom and for the benefit of the saints through hearty laughs, dumb puns, recent realizations, interesting insights, spiritual awakenings, beautiful pictures, random thoughts, thought-provoking questions and everything in between. it'll be nice. it'll be real. it'll be me.