Thoughts About Blogging

Yesterday I discovered that 2 blogs I have been following for at least a year now had been deleted. I very surprised! These 2 bloggers had been passionate bloggers even before I knew what blogging was about! I was sure it was a mistake, that all their hours of hard work would be deleted just like that, so I emailed one of the blog authors only to find out it was true! She had decided to delete her blog!

So, I've been thinking about it. It really is hard to tell if it's a good way to spend time. Since I first started blogging I have worried and fretted about this. But every time I think I am going to quit blogging, too, I find something that indicates that it's a good thing.

My friend said she deleted her blog because it was always hanging over her head, nagging at her mind that she needed to write something on it; just another thing on her "to do" list, and she felt like no one was benefiting from it anyway. I've had thoughts like that, too, but then I realized it was Satan who wanted to keep me from doing a good thing, something that I am in a position to do. We needn't spend a lot of time, and wisely, we should not. Our families and other things are very important. But a little time and thought put into a post can go a long way in building up others at a time when they might need it the most. I'd much rather read a happy blog post, when I find a little extra time, than read about all the unhappy things that are in the newspaper!

We live in a most marvelous age of technology. Time is a more slippery thing than ever before, but part of the time crunch is that there are so many marvelous things for us to learn and do. But isn't this great?! How blessed we are to live now! Heavenly Father obviously brought computers and internet to the earth at the best possible time for His plan, and we are so blessed to be in that age. It is a marvelous tool to use in doing His work, and a very effective and fast way to spread the good news of the gospel! While on the other hand, Satan is using the same technology to spread his evil work faster than ever before.

At least 2 of our apostles have come out now and suggested we use the Internet tools (such as blogging and facebook) to help spread the gospel, to share our testimonies and to dispel the myths and false conceptions surrounding the "Mormon" religion. L. Tom Perry just recently suggested this at BYU Women's Conference. I have no doubt we will be hearing more about this as time goes on. Elder Uchdorft suggested we "create" as much as possible, coupled with compassion. Both of those elements are useful in blogging.

Why not fight back against Satan and the onslaught of evil by publishing as much good as we can online to counterbalance the evil?! Why not let blog surfers see blog after blog after blog of wholesome family blogs filled with pictures of our families and testimony and scripture and every other good thing?!!

I put blogging in the search engine of lds.org just to see what I'd find. There was an article by Salli Hollenzer entitled, "My Journal, My Testimony." There wasn't a word in it about keeping a blog, but those were my immediate thoughts, that a blog could be used as our journal and writing our testimonies.

Blogging is also a form of scrapbooking--only easier and cheaper! You don't have the mess or the supplies to purchase and store. There are tons of great free online resources. Recording family events with photos, dates, recipes and other great information is a great way to do family history. You can even have multiple authors on a blog, so it's a way to get the whole family involved. And the best part is we don't need a printing press! We are "publishing" unlimited "copies" for friends and family to read and enjoy now as well as in the future! And it takes up no room on our bookshelves!

We can also use it to record goals & track our progress. It can help increase our reading and writing skills. Writing can be therapeutic, too, you know. When I'm having a down day, and I come across a spiritual thought that increases my faith, why not make a post out of it and maybe help increase someone elses faith and/or give them encouragement on a day they might be struggling?!

Other ideas I saw from my search was to share the message of Relief Society (the things we learn and do) and the strength of sisterhood. Share ideas about food storage. Recipes are a wonderful thing to share! We can link to news releases from the church on our blogs and facebook. They have easy to use built-in link tools and widgets that are a snap to add right on the lds.org website. This is especially great when something false comes out in the news that might mislead people not of our faith, like what happened in Texas with the RLDS last year, and how that was confused with our church. We can counter falsehoods by spreading truth. With the world in such a mess and evil so rampant, there are those out there looking for light, for that which is good and wholesome and uplifting. Let us provide that for them! Let us unite our "voices" as we publish and share gospel messages online. Our church is also making Mormon Messages very rapidly, and have their own web page on YouTube.com. They've made it so easy to link a Mormon Message on our blog or facebook! They're also working on things for facebook. Let's use these great tools and those that are being developed yet to come! Let us show the world that we love families, and wholesomeness, and God, and beauty, and all that is good.

We might think that no one is reading our blogs, or wonder if they are even doing any good at all, but I don't think that. Comments are nice, but not necessary. It certainly doesn't mean someone's not benefiting from your thoughts. And we might not have time to read everyday. But Heavenly Father has often led me to find something in the most interesting ways, that was a message from Him. And, I have found lots of great things on blogs, from thoughts, to crafts, to recipes, to photo tips! They are really an awesome thing.

Share your testimony. Share an answer to your prayer. Share a spiritual thought, or a good quote. Share a funny thought (we could all use a little more laughter). Share an idea. Share a picture! I love pictures!! The ideas are limitless.
Happy Blogging!