Counting Gifts & A Question

So many thoughts rolling around in my head this week that would make excellent post material....unfortunately, most are related to what I'm learning from reading Holley Gerth's excellent new book, You're Already Amazing.  And it isn't quite time to tell you about that.  That's for next week.  Finally!  It's a good thing because this girl is about to explode with all she's wanting to share.  There is so much that speaks to me and apparently God thinks I need to hear it because I'm hearing it over and over.  In Bible study.  On Facebook.  On other blogs.  I'm being inundated. God is hammering it home every chance he gets.  'Cause I'm sorta thick sometimes and he has to pound it in.

What's a girl to write about then, if she can't write about what she really, really, really wants to blog about?

How about a few more everyday blessings?

191.  Joy.  Deep-seated, down in your soul, bubbling up, and spilling-over JOY.  No earthly reason for it, but there it is.


192.  A clean car.  Hand-washed by a husband already tired from a long day at work because the car wash line was "miles" long.


193.  A new full-time job for a daughter's boyfriend.


194.  Reward and new experiences for a son for a job well done.


195.  The happy clatter of doggy toenails on bare floors.


196.  Brunch with a friend.


197.  Silly kid jokes that make me laugh even though I try to hide it.


198.  The smell of an orange being peeled.


199.  The "ahhhhhhh" moment of removing shoes at the end of  the day.


200.  A brand new box of crayons and possibilities. 



Oh, and I want to ask your opinion on something.  My friend, Beth, brought up the topic of blog comments the other day on her blog.  She mentioned that there seemed to be a growing movement among Christian bloggers to "close" comments.  The reasoning behind the trend is to make sure you're blogging for God's glory and not for the ego-feeding feedback.  Beth feels (and I agree) that closed comments seem a bit like a "talk to the hand" stance.  Even though it isn't what the blogger intends, the reader can be left feeling like they don't matter.

I've been blogging since 2001 (we painted with ash on the cave walls back then) and I've made a lot of friends.  Many come and go and are only friends for a time.  Some remain in the virtual world but are still my friends after all these years.  And some cross the line into the "real" world and become flesh and blood, face to face friends.  My point is, that all those relationships began in the comments.  They branched out and moved on from there, but they began with a comment on a blog.

God created each of us with unique gifts and talents and he calls each of us to equally unique situations that use those gifts and talents.  But the one thing, the single most important thing, he has called us all to do is love.  It's what this whole ballgame is about.  Loving God, loving our neighbors, and loving ourselves.

As a blogger, I don't think I can fulfill that call to the best of my ability if I close myself off from the very people I am writing to.  I do understand the need to keep priorities straight, protect family time, and avoid the trap of ego....but if blogging is what you're called to I just can't imagine God not wanting you to be in conversation with your readers.  It would be like a pastor delivering a thought-provoking sermon and then refusing to answer questions or talk about it.

It's necessary to have some checks and balance in our blogging as well.  Ego can still become a problem even without comments.  There is the danger of teaching falsehoods or of being so sure of your "rightness" that you believe you have all the answers.  It's good to have our statements questioned.  It can drive us back into the Word to check the facts and to be sure of them.

And sometimes it's just good to get a different perspective.

So, I'm asking....what are your thoughts on closed commenting?