Good Bloggers Follow Rules

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There is a saying out there that good bloggers follow rules. The rules say doing it right is posting new content on a set schedule. They say doing it right is having a word count between 500-800.  The rules say doing it right is posting on Facebook four times a day. And Instagram twice a day. They say good bloggers grow their blog audience by offering free things to their email list. The rules say that good bloggers create a course to sell. They say good bloggers use ads to fund their website and create an income to allow them to stay home with their kids. They say that good bloggers have an audience and that they increase it so that publishers will notice them and they will get book deals.

The rules say this is what makes a real blogger.

I have to confess; I really want to be like a real blogger. I want to be able to post new content twice a week. I want to have a good SEO and a blog that looks pleasing to the eye.  I want to do it all.  I’m kinda an all-or-nothing-gal. So the pressure to do this blog thing the ‘right’ way is high. I want to do it right.

I can’t live up to the blogging rules anymore. I can’t keep up with doing it all the right way, which leaves me feeling like a failure. 

If I put aside those rules… and really dig into what this online space is for…

I want all I write and do:

  • to encourage and point you to Jesus. 
  • to make a difference in your life. 
  • to help you the way others have helped me. 
  • to point into the Bible and encourage you to dig in.  
  • to encourage you to grow your relationship with Jesus.

I won’t encourage you one bit if I’m not doing it the way God wants me to. This writing thing really isn’t about me, nor about following the blogging rules.

God does not care about rules. He is after relationship.

It is about relationship. First a relationship with Him. Then a relationship with each other. Not a list of rules that make you a ‘good’ whatever you are aiming for. No. It’s about relationship.

I wonder, are there things you do because people tell you they are the rules? To be a good mom do this… to be a good Christian do this… to be a good neighbor do it like this… a good wife always does things this way… Is there some list that you are trying to live up to?

Friend, we need to stop living up to those ‘rules’ put on us by other people. (maybe even put on us by ourselves) There might be boxes we think we ‘need’ to check before being the person God has in mind for us. Or using the gifts and talents that God has planned for us.

Sister, sometimes those lists are long!  And sometimes we are just plain tired trying to keep up with it all. Can I get an amen?

I can’t live up to all the ‘rules’ I have in my mind anymore. I quit.

I quit doing it ‘the right way’. I’m going to stop making ‘their way’ be the goal I am trying to live up to. I’m going to stop trying to live up to their ‘rules’.

I ask God to renew my mind. To step back from those goals, ideas, and dreams He’s placed inside me and just get refocused.  In one sense, to erase my idea of what I have learned a ‘real’ blogger does. To let God replace those expectations and rules that ‘good bloggers’ do and replace it with the plan He has for me.

A verse that really is special to me-

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living scarifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12

Friend, what ‘rules’ are you trying to follow? What boxes are you trying to check off to get on the ‘good list’?  Are they getting in the way of your Relationship with Jesus? If so, I’m with ya on this one! Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with wisdom to know where we need Jesus to ‘renew’ our minds and hearts. Let’s realign ourselves with a closer relationship with Him.

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4 Comments

  1. In total agreement — I need to only follow what Jesus would have me to do ..I need to imitate his example..I need to be in constant communion with him and constantly striving keep my relationship with him in tip top shape…All else will fall in line if that relationship is my top priority…

    I appreciate your blogging/posts very much …

    Thank you for all your efforts…

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