About this blog. . .

I’ve been writing this blog since 2002. Before that, I kept a page on MSN Communities and wrote a weekly “newsletter” that I emailed to a small subscription list. I was an early adopter of this phenomenon called blogging. But up until now, I’ve avoided the “About Page.”

In the world of writers, I am primarily a storyteller from a long line of storytellers. It’s a Southern affliction and shows up most when handed a microphone. (Which is why I never Karaoke… because I’m liable to turn it into a stand-up routine.) But when I began, I wasn’t taking writing too seriously on my blog or in my real life. After a brief and gloriously unsuccessful brush with fame (I had several “essays” picked-up for publication that then were never published!) I opted to “take my craft to a different level.”

Oh the stories we tell ourselves.

It was, in part, a diversion from the daily grind. I was profoundly unhappy in graduate school, pursuing an Mdiv with no plan for ordination. Writing “seriously” about my life gave me an outlet for my words and it provided an escape from my reality. It was a way of consoling myself that maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t wasting my time exegeting yet another biblical text. Or so I told myself.

I’m not sure what level my “craft” ever reached. However, the exercise was important in that I began to write regularly and deliberately. What I found in the process was something more. I think they call it your voice. But then again, maybe not.

Anyhow, the very nature of observing my life in order to write prompted a radical change in the way I viewed this blog. At some point, I stopped using my blog as an avenue to become a better writer and accepted that I was on a journey to chart the beauty of this world. Because, seriously people, this world is amazing. Blogging became a spiritual practice of sorts: a way of detailing and sharing and recording all the beauty this world has to offer, a way of keeping me in the present.

The Grace of the Universe (yes in CAPS!) can be found in the most mundane moments. In fact, I would argue, that’s where we’ll find it most often if we take the time to notice. But it does mean being willing to slow down and savor our lives. Too often, the temptation is to fill the silences of our lives with busyness. This keeps us from asking the hard questions, right? If I have too much to do, I won’t have to stop and ask myself why I’m miserable. In fact, I’ll be too busy to notice!

It’s a death trap, really. I suspect that the very thing we’re doing to avoid asking the hard questions is the very thing killing us.

There is a salvation of sorts in slowing down. And this is what I’ve found in writing this blog. Grace is abundant and there for the taking. This blog functions as a record of my experiences with that Grace. Nothing more. But certainly, nothing less.

One thing hasn’t changed; I am still a storyteller. On any given day, in any given week you might think you’ve stumbled upon a craft blog or a mommy blog or an environmental blog. But don’t be deceived by the surface! Crafting or parenting or holding forth on my favorite cause simply serves as a way to hone my craft and in the process slow down long enough to really appreciate just how blessed my life is.

NOTE: I’ve read and reread this “About Page” more times than I’d like. And every time, it sounds more pretentious. In the world of blogging, there is a fine line between narcissism and the well examined life. I fear I venture into the former far more than I’d like.

Anyhow, this is as it is, because I don’t have the patience to edit it any more than I have. As it’s the first “About Page” in 7 years of blogging, we’ll call it good enough. OK? And maybe revisit it in another 7 years. If you poke around this site past my blarney here, I promise to be more amusing.

I hope.

Blessings on your journey. ~~Wende