Why I Blog

*I was asked by Kelly at Keeping Up with Kelly to be a guest blogger for her. Here's the post that I wrote.*


Well, this is my first time to ever be a "guest blogger," so I hope this isn't super disappointing! :) I'm also not one of the major Blogettes who has a trillion-bagillion readers, but I have certainly developed a love for this forum that we call blogging.

I will say that way back in ye olden days, I had heard the stereotype that blogging was the geeky/uncool/square thing to do. You know, people with wayyyyy too much time on their hands decide to self-publish their thoughts. I personally didn't even know enough about blogging to make a judgement. All of a sudden, I realized a few of my friends had blogs. The more I saw, the more I wanted one. I had tried other sites for "journaling," but I liked the concept that having a blog that was entirely yours gives you a little portion of the world. At least the world of cyberspace.

So, in October of 2007 I created my blog. At first it didn't have a direction, or a name. It didn't look fancy shmancy, which really bugged me, because if I do something, I want to do it right. And I love for things to look fancy shmancy. So I researched, asked around, and really started to think about what blogging was to me. As for the fancy shmancy, I decided to hire a blog designer, which in turn led me to come up with my title, The Happily Ever Afters of the Lancasters.

Suddenly, my blog had a purpose, it was fresh and new and pretty looking, and then --- my favorite -- I started to connect with people. It was like playing the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: I would click around and keep discovering new blogs that I loved until I somehow found my way back to the original blog that piqued my interest. I was hooked!

As I write this, I can't help but think of how this is so representative of our spiritual lives. We start dabbling in the idea that there should be more to life. We see a few friends that have a difference and joy in their lives, and we want in on it. We begin the "seeking" process, which leads us to the Master Designer, who takes our lives, and makes them fresh and new. Then we start living with purpose and we connect with people. Isn't that what life is all about? Connecting leads (at least it should) to ministering, which then should lead to pointing people to a relationship with Christ.

Who knew that there was such depth in the concept of blogging? :)

To be fair, not every post that you write should be formatted like a 5-paragraph essay and have a snazzy jazzy opening phrase and a slam-bang finish. If they do, fabulous. But I know that's not how I write or even why I write. I write to journal and scrapbook what goes on in our lives, as well as celebrate the things that I love about life. I write because I love reading what others have to say. I write because it's just fun. It's fun to have a piece of the Internet world where you can play what music you want, have a site that's clean and modern or ridiculously embellished. And I write to connect with other people in the world, some of which I would never have met otherwise in a million years. If I ran into Leah I would know exactly what to ask her about her current life situation (at least from what she's written). And if I were to end up on a plane with Heidi, we could talk for the whole plane ride, easily. If I ended up at a basketball game and heard someone sniffling because they love the sound of shoes on a basketball court, I would know instantly that it was Danielle sitting near me.

I blog to bring honor to the Lord, first and foremost, for myself, as an outlet and creative space, but also for the people. Because that's why I'm here on this planet. To connect, love, and point them to Jesus. And sometimes, that happens through that little blog that I created 2 years ago.

Here's to blogging, and loving it!