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Diary of A Preschool Blogger :: Playing Nice

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My name is Stacey and I have been writing my blog, 29 Lincoln Avenue, for a little over two years. So really, in the blog world, I am only a preschooler. I still have much to learn. The neat thing about the Allume blog, is we can learn together and continue the conference experience all year long. It is like the conference without the swag. (Hint. Hint. Swag here would be really cool).

What I loved about Relevant {someday we’ll call it Allume} last year, was the conversation woven throughout on sisterhood. My favorite session was called “Upside Down Blogging” with Ann, Amy & Courtney. They said all sorts of awesome words like:

“Blogging is a team sport. There is not finite pie. You don’t get your share. Your Father owns everything. He chooses to divvy it up how He wants to. Can you trust Him? Concentrate on what He has given you. If you spend time just looking at what other people have, then you will at best not be doing anything with what He gave you.” (Amy Lynn Andrews)

“Seek good things for yourself, seek them not” (Courtney)

“Blogging is about washing the feet of our sisters” (Ann)

As a preschool blogger I’ve been thinking, what if we as a community really bought into this idea of sisterhood? What if we loved to love each other? What if we played nice every day and shared our toys (blogs)? After all, isn’t it the first thing we learned in preschool? Well, maybe it was the second thing after don’t eat the play dough. But still, playing nice is a valuable lesson we all could benefit from if we grew a little in this area.

Okay, so you are intrigued and ready to make friends more like sisters. How far are you willing to go to play nice? Will you:

Pray for her
Applaud her loudly
Leave a comment on her posts
Tweet for her
Share your blog home
Step aside so another can shine instead of you

Are you ready for some honesty? Last year, my number one post was not written by me. That’s right, I am not even #1 on my own blog. Does that hurt a bit? Well, sure it does, I’m a girl, right? But when you get down to it, 29 Lincoln Avenue is not really my blog. It belongs to Jesus. I’m only renting the space.

Since we are uniquely girls, we are going to mess up at this sisterhood thing from time to time. We still wear flesh, and until the day we don’t, we will fall short. So when that happens, what if we gave grace? What if when our sister missteps, instead of talking about her, we prayed for her? What if when we were forgotten, we used the time to sit at the feet of Jesus and ask Him who we could encourage?

A beautiful thing happens when we play nice. Jesus gets all the credit and we get a chance to meet, engage and collaborate with women who passionately use their gifts for the Lord. The truth is, working with women like this makes me better on every account. Where I lack, they shine and sometimes that rubs off on me. And for a preschool blogger, that is a pretty good thing.

Next time, let’s talk about the best part of preschool—nap time.

Stacey Thacker is a contributor for SistersInBloom.com and find her blogging at 29lincolnavenue

Comments

  1. I’ve made it a goal to choose 1-3 bloggers to pray for each month. Throughout the month I’ll also comment on their blogs (more than I normally do) and promote their posts on Pinterest and my blog, A Heart for Home. I’m also attempting to share the love on Twitter, if I can ever figure out how to use it really well.

  2. I love the idea of supporting and encouraging one another. I think the cool thing about actual conventions is that it brings everyone together. I guess that would be the comment section here, eh? 🙂

    • Yes!  Seeing my sweet sisters talking and connecting in real life was so sweet.  But we can do that online too.  We can build community anywhere!  

  3. It is such an elementary, er, preschool principal that I overlook! Be kind, share, put others first. I think of blogging as so individualistic, which just isn’t true. Thank you!

  5. Absolutely beautiful post!!!  Loved the reminder to PRAY for our sisters- it is really hard (impossible really!) to stay upset with someone or to go down the road of misunderstanding when we are praying for our them.  Thank you!!!!

  6. Hi Stacey,
    I love this concept of all of us women working together through our individual blogs and social media! It’s encouraging and uplifting in a way that doesn’t make me think about comparing myself to others. (And if we’re honest, comparing comes naturally and is a hard habit to kick, isn’t it?!?) What a great quote from Amy Lynn Andrews! It really makes me think “you do what God wants you to do, I’ll do what God wants me to do, and we can work together and not against each other!”
    A very encouraging post! Thank you for sharing it!
    In Christ,
    Laura

    • That session was so good, I just wanted to soak it all in!  And the idea of it not being a finite pie — oh that was my favorite part!

      Also – what would it say to the world if we as Christian bloggers loved to love each other?  Oh, that would be neat!  

  7. This is great. This is such a stumbling block for many women. Compare, gossip, clique, all things we don’t like to do…we do. Let’s play nice!

  8. this is what I LOVE about the Allume community- it’s blogging advice from a God-glorifying perspective – I don’t have to filter out all the “Pick Me!” self-promotion stuff in other how-to posts. 

    this post was delicious, Stacey – pure fun to read and so inspiring.

  9. Just lovely, Stacey. Thanks for reminding me that when I get left out of the game, I need to just look around to see who I might encourage. Hard truth, but so necessary.

  10.   Oh, so very true! A beautiful thing DOES happen when we play nice.   I love that.  Who doesn’t need more friends, more sisters, more encouragement, more support?  Great post, Stacey!

  11. Fantastic post Stacey! I love what you are encouraging and I agree whole heartedly! Wanna come write the most popular post on my blog? 😉

  12. As I discover more and more amazing blogs and amazing women I am struck by how rich and full I feel. Some blogs affirm others, then there are the ones that strike right out of the blue, hitting me where I need it most. I am thankful for the diversity of life messages and stories I find in my little blogg family community. Thank you for yet ANOTHER reminder to keep my focus on where it needs to be, Him!

  13. Thank you Thank you Thank you Allume! I have saved all of these posts via email to comb through over and over as I am an INFANT blogger! Stacey, thank you for the encouragement and challenge to “play nice.” 

    With that being said, I LOVE sharing my little corner of the net and my top post belongs to a guest blogger as well ;o) If anyone wants to get their name into AR, inbox me about a guest post! My blog is mainly about sharing daily confessions of one girls attempt at making disciples of all nations as she is going day to day.

  14. I’m fairly news to blogging myself, and all of the really good stuff that I have learned are tips I have received from fellow blogging ladies. I love the way we lift each other up and share our “toys”. I do wish I had more time to spend getting to know everyone better, but the time that I do get to spend is always very rewarding! 🙂

  15. When I first began blogging about 4 years ago, it was important for me to connect.  So I immediately began finding blogs to follow and leaving comments.  Commenting is something that I spend hours on each week.  I am very intentional about building community with the women God leads to my blog.  Do I respond to every comment?  No.  But I respond to alot of them.  Another thing I do is highlight a blogger who encourages me each month.  I place her button on my blog, and give her an opportunity to guest post.  Just over the last two months I’ve allowed guest posts on my blog twice a week. It’s been fun giving these women opportunity to share with my readers and get to know my community. 

    Great thoughts here my friend!

  16. If you’re a preschooler, then I’m an… infant, embryo? Less than 2 weeks in, but this is exactly what I want to do.  My real life sister is going to be a weekly regular (talk about risk of rivalry)  and I’m hoping others will share, too.  I love the connections I’m forming in this little bloggy world.  I was always blessed to have lots of girlfriends and I so want this for others.  Great post!

  17. Wonderful post. I believe that the hardest part of blogging, is that of school, and ultimately life, learning how to make and be friends with others. 

  19. I loved this post, Stacey.  One of my favorite things about blogging is sharing the space with other bloggers.  Whatever size blog they have, I think it’s so much fun to feature another blogger.  I’m learning more and more that it’s not “my” blog… it’s a community and it’s there to glorify the Creator of all things.  

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