Today is Holy Thursday and the beginning of the Triduum, the most holy three days of the Catholic liturgical year. Today is also the beginning of my new blog, which I feel called by God to write. I do so for the sole purpose of giving glory to Our Father in Heaven. It is my hope that by the sharing of our pilgrimage on Earth with others, we will be encouraged and supported to live as the holy family of God, not just for three holy days or the times we are at church or in prayer, but more importantly, to live out our call to holiness each day in our homes with our family and friends.
I have made many other attempts to share my faith journey through the written word, only to end it quickly. That is why I feel it is Providence that I should start anew on Holy Thursday. Jesus came to make all things new. What appeared to be failure on a cross and a waste of time, energy, and love, is the very thing that saves us. The transformation from old to new often times seems too difficult and unnecessary as no one really values it. The value is within, knowing that obedience to the will of God is the very thing that saves us!
The title of my uncompleted book is L.O.V.E. and stands for, Live Obediently - Value Everyone. Last week, I sent the first chapter off to Servant Books with a cover letter in the hope that I could either dismiss the book idea or receive encouragement to continue writing it. The reply came this week that I should consider writing a blog first and see if there is any interest in what I have to share. So, if I profess to live obediently, and I feel that God is asking me to share my story with others, I am now compelled to follow through, right? I do value the advice of this publisher and I did think that hers was a good idea, however, I did not tell her that I have tried writing blogs before and stopped after three entries.
Jesus fell three times and kept getting up. The thing I must do this time to make it new is to contact my family and friends with my blog information. Talk about accountability. The few friends that I have told that I was writing a book, ask me frequently, "how is the book coming along?" I usually laugh and leave it at that. They must feel that I have something of value to share, so I am going to try harder this time. I am going to put myself out there, revealing every humiliating detail of my attempts at transforming from a spoiled child of God to an obedient child of God, and I do it all for the glory of God!
I think this is a good start for today, giving you the background for this blog. Tomorrow, Good Friday, I will post the introduction chapter that I sent to the publisher. It doesn't come close to being crucified, but exposing oneself is very difficult. May I enter ever more deeply into the way of the cross through this exercise of obedience, and be filled to overflowing with Easter joy.
Amen.
Congratulations on blogging... again. I think the reply by the publisher should be taken as extremely encouraging. What I perceive it to mean is that if you can build an audience on a blog they'll be more likely to publish it - because it'll have an audience built in. I'm not sure I'd publish the whole first chapter of the book though, blogging is typically better done in shorter bursts. Maybe post a couple paragraphs that can be taken as a contained thought? Just a suggestions. Good luck!
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