Is there enough time in the world to read everyone's blog?

I think that 'blogs are an incredibly interesting phenomena. Kinda narcisistic. Kinda voyeristic. Fun to read. A great distraction.

As it turns out, some people that I know, and really respect, have great blogs. I have a friend with a knitting blog; another who has a haiku blog. We have a blog for our neighborhood. Several of my clergy colleagues have also started blogs. Dean Snyder, the pastor at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, DC, has a great blog (www.untiedmethodist.com), as does my friend Amy Butler, the pastor at Calvary Baptist Church, also in Washington (www.talkwiththepreacher.blogspot.com). In fact, it was Amy's blog that made me want to start my own.

A friend asked me (when we were talking about someone else who had started a 'blog) is there enough time in the world to read everyone's blog? Definitely not. So why would I add to the ramblings of the blogesphere?

Here's why:

1) I hate to journal. Seriously. I can never make myself do it, even though I know that I should because it is a spiritual discipline that so clearly counterbalances my overly extroverted personality. But I hate to go back and read what I have written. It always sounds trite and boring and self-indulgent. But if I knew someone might read my journal, would I be more self-reflective, and more disciplined, too.

2) I think people will read this blog (once I get up the courage to tell people about it, that is). Because everyone likes to feel a little bit famous, and if someone writes about you on the internet that's almost like being a celebrity. So I hope that my friends and family and members of Bethesda UMC will read this blog, if only because they are hoping I will say something nice about them.

3) My life is interesting. That sounds totally arrogant, and I don't mean it that way. Because it's not just my life that deserves to be written about--so does yours, his, hers, ours. But for me, being an almost 32-year-old female pastor, wife to a government lawyer, mother to a one year old, friend to lots of cool, interesting and diverse people, the daughter of parents living in Arkansas and California, and making a home in an urban Washington, DC neighborhood while serving a fantastic church in the suburbs makes for a lot of interesting stories--at least I think so.

4) And because maybe my stories will make you think about your life, your relationships, how God is moving and present in your world. And maybe then you'll start your own blog, too. If you do, let me know. I promise to read it.