So this blog is closing and I won’t be posting any more to it. I’ll leave it up for a few weeks, as I transfer the Simple Compassion stuff to the website. I’ll email everyone when that is ready to go.

I have set up a personal blog and you are invited over there to keep up with me. This blog is not a ministry themed blog, but just a personal journal where I’ll write often about my life, what I’m reading and watching, and whatever comes to mind. You can visit the new site by clicking here. I am excited about it and am looking forward to posting often. See you there!

I like to write and posting on a blog has been very enjoyable to me. When I first started, I posted mostly for pleasure with no desire to amass a big following. My posts were on television shows, movies and music that I enjoyed and rants about things I did not enjoy.

When I began to use the blog for Flourish-related things, I changed the tone a bit and had a more structured list of topics. I worked on getting readers to further promote and explain Flourish events and activities. I was a bit more conservative with what I posted for several reasons. Those who don’t know me well often don’t “get” my somewhat sarcastic sense of humor and it didn’t always work on the blog. And also, I felt that since I had the link to the blog posted on the Flourish site, I should keep the topics to things that would interest and edify the women who would happen upon my blog and read it to learn more about the ministry.

I’ve recently been able to track the stats on the blog and have been watching things closely over the past six months. And I’ve mostly been discouraged. Blogging takes a lot of time each week, even if I keep the posts short, and it seems most of them aren’t being read. Since I’ve changed over to the “read more” option, awhile back, some posts have never been read. And while I’m still getting a small, but steady amount of people visiting the blog, the vast marjority of them do not click on a single article to read it in it’s entirety.

This tells me the sad truth that what I’m posting isn’t interesting to my readers. And on some level, I knew this, but have little idea how to fix it. I tried a survey a while back to see what people wanted to read or enjoyed reading. Twelve people participated and the highest rated post topics are some of the very same post topics that is read by one (or fewer, at times) person! So I’m wondering if the survey was just taken by one person twelve times.

I’m not going through all this detail to whine and complain. I honestly don’t care if I have a bunch of readers or none at all. It’s just that I think the time I spend on it shouldn’t be so disproportionate. It takes me several hours a week to blog, read the comments, and reply. (And then clear out the spam, update the software, and other behind-the-scenes housekeeping tasks!) My numbers tell me that in a week that I post seven to ten new entries, less than five minutes is spent on the blog by all my readers combined. That says a lot! Maybe it’s time to pull the plug.

Now comes the difficult part – because there are a lot of options to pulling the plug.

1. I can just stop blogging. Shut down the blog, and stop writing online completely.

2. I can tweak the idea of the Flourish blog, posting once every week or every other week to have far less posts more regularly. For example, new book and music reviews, articles and information could all be posted on Friday mornings. I would turn comments off so that I did not have to track them or delete all the spam they engender on my servers. Then I could spend far less time on the blog each week.

3. I can start a new blog of purely personal stuff. It’d take the link off the Flourish page, and mostly keep Flourish-related business off the blog. (Other than my own personal view of something, like sharing how much fun I had at an event, etc.)  I’d blog more from my personal life and experiences. I certainly wouldn’t hide the blog and all my current readers could come on over. But it would get me back to the blogging I did for fun a long time ago. I’d blog when I had something to say, and I would probably find it easier to keep up with, knowing I was back to writing for myself.

So there’s what I’ve been thinking of, and why the blog has been empty. I have about half decided on one of the above options, but I’m still thinking things through so I don’t want to speculate yet on which one. I am going to keep up with the simple compassion stuff in some form, possibly putting it on a webpage and adding to it that way each week. Whether the blog goes on or not, that will continue until the end of the year in some format.

I want to stress that while I’m discouraged on one level, I’m not at all upset about this or trying to get more readers by writing all this out. I just wanted to explain that some changes are coming. While I’m not sure yet what path I’m taking, I feel I must make a change. I have too many things I want to do with my time that I’m not getting to do. The effort to keep the blog going as it is now, is not worth the return on that investment of time.

I’ll keep you posted. If I shut the blog down, I’ll send out an email to let everyone know where the Simple Compassion stuff will be moved to. If I go to once-a-week posting, I’ll also send out an e-mail to let everyone know the date they can expect new information.

If I decide to start a new, personal blog, I’ll post the new address here on this blog at the top of the page. I will likely purchase a new domain name for the blog and move it from the flourishministry.com address completely. I’ll probably also send out an email telling everyone that the Flourish blog is gone.

If you have thoughts on this, feel free to tell me what you think. I want to do the right thing here and am still unsure what that is.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, – Philippians 1:27

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,  - Philippians 2:14-15

The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.  - Psalm 138:8

Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.  - Psalm 33:20-22

How about you? What Scriptures are speaking to your life right now? What is God teaching you?

I have to agree with the author’s statement at the end of the chapter that Christian women often think their choices are more limited than they really are. I see it often, and have held myself back that way at times. I see moms say they can’t serve God because they have children, as if there is no middle ground between serving every moment and not serving at all. I see women who work outside the home say they have no time for a Bible study as if there’s only one “right” way and time to do it. The “all or nothing” approach keeps us from seeing that we have fare more choices than we take opportunity of.

On another note, I also loved her admission that something about the Bible bothered her. (She kinda upped her spot on my hero list by doing so, in fact!) I think something like that on occasion and then wonder if I’ve just committed blasphemy. But the truth is, I often wish more had been included or some details given to clear things up. And some of the Bible is hard for me to accept. I’d love for it to be some other way and often struggle with the “whys” as I study. It’s nice to hear I’m not alone in that.

One of my heroes is my paternal grandmother, Margaret Fair. She lived a hard life with a difficult first marriage and a large number of children to raise in near-poverty. But she was a gracious, loving woman who had a tender heart for others and lived her life with simple faith that stayed strong until the end. I’ve been convicted lately about how much I seem to whine about. God is sooo good, and I’m too busy whining to notice. I want that tender spirit that my grandmother had to be evident in me, that trust in God that kept her gracious and humble.

How about you? Who are your heroes? What thoughts did this chapter stir in you as you read it? Sound off in the comments section.

1. I’ll post a prayer prompt and my personal prayer using that prompt.

2. You pray for me and add your personal prayer in the comments.

3. I’ll pray for you in return and you can pray for someone else who comments.

Ready? Here we go . . .

Dear God, I need clarity in this area . . .

Dear God, I need clarity to make some health/medicine decisions in the next week.

Okay – you’re turn!