
Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you.
Langston Hughes
Well, here's another one. I'm a man-pleaser. There, I've said it. I like to please people. What's even worse, I really enjoy positive feedback. You know, "warm fuzzies", positive strokes.
Several years ago, a young subordinate informed me that he didn't need those "cutesy notes" I sometimes wrote to staff. In a moment of self-enlightenment, I told him that I try to give lots of strokes because I like to get lots of strokes. I know, pretty shallow, huh?
Of course, being hungry for the praise of others can be motivating, but, oh yeah, yours truly also has a tendency to get distracted.
So, let's rewind for a minute: retirement...book...platform...blog...BLOG VIEW STATS! Oh my gosh! I am embarrassed to admit, checking those stats all too quickly became an addiction.
Dear Reader, I am a pitiful mess! But, here's the best news for anyone else who is weak and broken like me, " 10 ...I am glad when I am persecuted and have problems, because it is when I am weak that I am really strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10bEasy-to-Read Version (ERV))
So, once in a while, God, who is infinitely patient with me, says to go off my addiction. You got it! No stats! What!
This is where God proves once again that He has a sense of humor (I thought it was irony, but I couldn't find a definition I could understand), not unlike the way He demonstrates it with the weather at least once a week.
Could you follow that last sentence? Talk about ADD. Aren't you glad you're not rambling around inside this brain?
Okay, back to God. Nearly every time God has taken away my pacifier (checking blog stats), for three days to a month, those stats have taken a big bump upwards. Not only that, but the big bumps have typically been with posts I didn't consider my best/most interesting/ yada-yada-yada. What's up with that?
I'll tell you what's up with that. Not only does God have a sense of humor, He also delights in showing His children just how much we need Him. Yeah, sometimes that means He lets us fall flat on our faces, but that's more likely to be out of our own stubbornness, than His harshness. Just look at those hapless Hebrew children wandering around without their GPS.
So, what's a girl to do? (Ok, so I haven't technically been a "girl" for several decades, but whatever.)
I could try to make a resolution to only check stats at certain intervals, after praying about what that interval should be. I could delete the blog view stats spreadsheet (how sick am I?). I could keep looking for trends to try and figure out what and when appeals to my readers the most.
I could do a lot of things.
Right now, I'm rereading Holley Gerth's Opening the Door to Your God-Sized Dream (devotional). Remember I showed you a picture of the pink gift bag not long ago where I had written "Love the Giver more than the gift" ? That's one of Holley's ideas from the devotional. Maybe I need to move it to a more conspicuous spot.
That's really what it all boils down to, isn't it? Loving Him, thanking Him for the unique combination of gifts and talents He's given each one of us, and trusting Him to show us how to use them for His glory. Like Max Lucado says, "It's not about me."
Thanks for sticking around, Dear Reader! I hope God's humor, or redirection, will "suddenly cleanse and cool ... you" when you need it most.
(Since I've already embedded a bit of Scripture for you, here's a little humor, and I'm still jazzed about learning to embed YouTube.)