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The Perfect Blog

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There’s a little bit of chaos in my home, there’s a little bit of mess here in my heart, and yet, amidst it all, I find moments to pull away and write on my blog.  Closing the door on the voices and the unfinished housework my mind settles down. It’s almost as though the house is clean there on the other side of my work space, dinner is simmering on the stove, fresh flowers adorn the table and the children are all content.

Sometimes that’s true, most often it’s not, except my blog feels like it is.

Perfectly calm and controlled, like an oasis in the midst of real-life. And it should feel that way; I have given focused time and energy to cultivating its peaceful aesthetic.

I love my blog, I’m not going to lie. I love her clean lines and photo-shopped countertops; the color scheme makes me happy and the pictures of my children sparkle with just a little bit of fairy dust. Color-coordinated and lovely.

All in all, I think she’s rather “perfect.”

But here’s the thing: I know this love affair with my perfectly groomed slice of the internet isn’t healthy, or honoring.  As a matter of fact, when I wrote out why I blog, having the perfect website never made the cut.  And it shouldn’t!

allume graphic - perfect blog

Here are three reasons why “The Perfect Blog” should not ever be our goal!

1) The Perfect Blog is dangerous for our readers.

Perfectly manufactured posts and pins polish us up so much that we lose our mortal edges. Our readers compare themselves to the photo-shopped “reality” of our words and our days. Our blog-speak has the power to lead readers down a fearfully covetous path. No-no-no, perfection is never the goal. Because the allusion of perfection in the Christian life is dangerous.

It’s easy, here in this Pinterest age of perfectly set tables and DIY masterpieces, to forget the One we are blogging for. We set out to point women to Jesus, but somehow in our striving for tweetable quotes and pin-worthy graphics, we’ve accidentally crafted for ourselves an idol.

An idol.

“I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” (Isaiah 42:8)

Ladies, let’s take a moment to remember what we’re here to do.  We blog to make much of Jesus, the only perfection that has ever been or ever will be. We blog in our weakness to glory in His strength. We blog through our mess, to revel in His message. We blog our way through imperfections, grasping for His perfection. And as we do, we have the lowly privilege of pointing others to Him as well, smack dab in the midst of their chaotic, perfectly-flawed, real-life challenges.

2) Only One thing can take first place in our lives.

The word preeminent has been heavy on my heart during the writing of this post. Preeminent means “having first place.” There is not room for two first-loves. If your love affair with your blog comes in first, then Jesus doesn’t. It’s as simple as that.

When we focus the lion’s share of our time and attention on building the perfect site, we’ve little to nothing left over for Jesus.  Oh sure, I know we’re doing it all for Him, but let’s bow our heads for an honest moment and take a humble breath.  Do we run to His Word with the same faithfulness that we run to communicate our own words?  Even if our words are laced with His….

We have carved our piece of cyberspace in the name of God.  But here’s the warning: Even authors who build their platform 100% for His glory can get awfully confused in the process.  It began all about God, but somewhere between the designing and the uploading and the “about me” page, we tend to forget it’s all “about Him.”

 Hang this as a reminder over your heart and over your computer!

all about Him

3) There is only One perfection.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6&8)

Powerless, ungodly sinners…  Those are the words that describe this ragamuffin lot.  And yet we were chosen, dearly loved, and purposed for good works – even good works right here on our blogs!  The temptation, however, it to focus so intently on the perfection of those good works (and good words)  that we lose sight of the Perfect One we’re blogging for!

I’m not suggesting we blab our way through posts, dragging our shoulders and confessing our sins, nor am I asking you to leave your typos and forego pin-able graphics.  I’m simply saying that if we spend our days consumed by this pursuit of excellence, we may in turn become consumed by the striving.  So let us cease from striving and simply know that He is God, the Only Perfection that has ever been.  Let’s abide there!

And if… If you have not yet taken a moment to focus entirely on His Word today (before running to offer your own or to read mine,) please close your computer down, power-off your phone, forego your “perfect blog” and run to Him.

His Words.

His Perfection.

May all we do and say and write, be an overflow of His perfection!

Comments

  2. Wendy, your words, inspired by Holy Spirit, hit a home run today. God takes our imperfect and makes it His perfection! xo

  3. You’ve done a great job at describing the ‘perfect’ blog–it should be perfect in humbleness and focused on Christ. It’s so easy to get sucked into the numbers game and worry about stats and how things should look. Thank you for the reminder that only God should have first place in our lives.

  4. “Do we run to His Word with the same faithfulness that we run to communicate our own words? Even if our words are laced with His….” I think this is easier for me on days I don’t post. New goal: focus as much on His words on my own word days as I spend crafting them for others. Ooo, that *will* be a good challenge!

  6. Lovely to see you here Wendy. This is a much needed post for me and I know many others. Thank you.

  7. Such excellent reminders…keeping the Main thing, the main thing and not getting so caught up on how, we forget Who. Thank you!

  8. I loved this as a new writer and blogger I have recently found myself focusing more on the beauty of sites, posts, and others art than the One crafting divine art through them. He makes all things beautiful in time and I know as I grow in Him He will continue to make beautiful art out of my life. Thank you for helping me to remember perfectionism fueled by comparison gives birth to covetous thinking and dangerous to our very souls sucking our life and ability to write from inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

    • Goodness, this is so true: “I have recently found myself focusing more on the beauty of sites, posts, and others art than the One crafting divine art through them.” Let’s bring it down a notch together, Laura, and fix our eyes on the that One! Thanks for sharing.

  9. “And if… If you have not yet taken a moment to focus entirely on His Word today (before running to offer your own or to read mine,) please close your computer down, power-off your phone, forego your “perfect blog” and run to Him.

    His Words.

    His Perfection.”

    Those words right there are so full of encouragement, and so needed. We get caught up in thinking about all the things we “have” to do in blogging that it becomes second nature to neglect the things we ought to do. Thanks for these words, friend.

    • “We get caught up in thinking about all the things we “have” to do in blogging that it becomes second nature to neglect the things we ought to do.” – Feel like should go back into this post and add some of the comments, like this one you shared. So true!

  10. Wendy, loved this post! It is totally about God and not me. I sometimes get so caught up in making my blog look like everyone elses. I need to remember that that isn’t at all what it is all about.

  11. Yes, we need these heart checks, we need belong to a community within which we can ask and be asked the tough questions of motives and pride and purpose. Thanks for cultivating that here. May our striving for perfection never trump our submission to His purpose for us.

    • Community… can’t wait to make that happen In Real Life, friend. And yes to the tough questions and yes to the encouragement and yes to a cup of tea together very soon.

  12. All too true! I find it amazing the speed with which our culture snapped up that idea of “look how perfect” since Pinterest and Facebook came into their own. It’s rather disturbing, and so we need messages like this one to remind us that life, and we, are not perfect!! Thanks for these thoughts!

  13. This was SO good! I couldn’t agree more with all you said and your words were beautiful! Thank you for sharing!

    • Thank you, Sarah. And I thought as I read your comment, “And your words were beautiful” about the famous words of Myquillan Smith, The Nester, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.”

  14. Great Job Wendy, what a great reflection and a great post. I think real honest lives is what makes the blogging world so much fun. We break down our glass houses and see the mess that is inside. 🙂

  15. Joining you Wendy, to cease the striving, be still, and know He IS God. My heart is sitting with you and choosing to abide there. And may it be so for us all. Thank you so much for pointing us to the way..xo

  17. This is encouragement and truth my heart needs to be reminded of often, Wendy. It’s so easy to forget or at best, get turned around with eyes on self instead of on Him. And it’s not even intentional, it just happens. I appreciate the invite to abide in Him alone today and I will join you there. He’s the only well I can draw from and be filled to overflow with anything worth sharing. Love you. xo

    • “he is the only well I can draw from and be filled to overflow with anything worth sharing.” Yes it’s true. He is just that. Makes me think of Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman. He refers to Himaelf as the Living Water, and that He is… But He is more than that. He is the Well itself. He is what we consume as well as the One who makes it possible to get to the Water in the first place. He is everything. Celebrating all this with you today!

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