Still Thinking about the Blog Status

Well, I'm trying to decide whether or not I should change my blog. Honestly, I haven't had time to do anything about it and won't for another ten days or so.

One of the things I'm trying to do is pray about it and really process it so I know I'm sure. I don't want to add unnecessary headache for people. I've been thinking about some of the reasons for creating a blog for registered users, and all of them have two sides to them! (And this in all honesty, has nothing to with one anonymous comment. It wasn't that bad!! Nothing I'm saying in this post is directed at any one person at all.)

Here are a few:
I clearly know my blog readers.

It provides security.

It saves me from throwing my heart out there to just anyone. - Here's one I've been thinking about a lot. I love blogging for the journal aspect of it. I like being able to share things the Lord is teaching me or just meaty things I'm processing. But, there's this element of writing things that are close to my heart that I don't want to share with people who don't really care. Some people might want to know from a curiosity standpoint, but don't treasure it for the nugget it is from my heart. So, do I make myself vulnerable to only a few in order to protect myself from that? I don't know!

There is less likelihood of being misunderstood. - The other part I've been thinking about a lot. This one came from the misunderstanding of a post last week. I was "called on" what I posted, which I don't mind at all. But I realized later I knew my heart, my heart was right, I knew the information was safe, I talked to the subject of the post and reconfirmed that. (She loves her life the way it is and I love mine! And we're okay being polar opposites!) But for two days I was all in a tizzy because I was wondering what other people were thinking about me. Not good!! One day when I was listening to something I realized that all I can do is make sure my heart is right with God... I can do my best, but I can't control how others perceive something I've written. And anyone is welcome to comment or e-mail me personally to ask me about it. And if I knew my audience, I would know if it's people who tend to understand me or not. (For instance, someone in my family might read something and interpret it differently than others because they trust me and know my heart.) So I'm not sure what's best to do about that either.

I think it provides a false sense of relationship. - I'm stumped on this one too. I can't really explain it without it sounding really rude! In short, I'd rather someone know about me because they enjoy my company and a relationship with me. Not because reading a blog is a quicker way to "catch up" and still know what's going on. (I think other blog writers deserve this too!) But on the other hand, if that's the only way they get to know what's going on, isn't that better than nothing? And then on the other hand (yes, I know that's three hands!), a blog also provides an opportunity for a cyber-relationship that wouldn't be available otherwise. And I enjoy those!

So that's where I am for now. I'd be really interested in your thoughts about it too. (And remember, I had to set comments to requiring moderation because they weren't working right a couple of weeks ago.) I know some of this sounds a lot more serious than it should, but throwing my heart out there to people who don't treasure isn't something I take lightly, because I've been hurt in the past when my heart was offered. And to me, my "heart" isn't just the serious stuff I could just avoid writing... my family is my "heart" though it may not seem serious at all!