I recently posed a question (HERE), “What’s a win for your blog?”  In the post, I said that a “win” for me isn’t the number of comments or tweets I receive in response to my writing…it’s getting the chance to articulate my thoughts.  And many of you heartily agreed with me.

But I began to wonder.

Is that just a cop-out?

Is that just the Resistance (re: The War of Art, Steven Pressfield) saying, “Don’t work harder…it’s not worth the effort.”?

Because if something is written well, shouldn’t it connect and inspire and spark?  Shouldn’t it be helpful for others?  Maybe it won’t be helpful for everyone, but shouldn’t it be helpful for some?  If I’m using my gifts, shouldn’t others be impacted and benefit? (re: 1 Corinthians 12)

It’s not that I need to start writing in order to get comments and shares. That’s backwards and fake and forced. Nobody wants that. That reeks of inauthenticity.

I was talking with a worship leader about his performance between songs on Sunday mornings.  When it comes to speaking between worship songs, he admittedly stumbles over his words, not sure what to say or how to best communicate.  He gets nervous and clams up.  I told him

Just be yourself. Talk about how God’s been speaking to you throughout the week. If God’s been pounding you over the head with the concept of grace, then share that with us. If He’s been convicting you about holding a piece of yourself back from Him…share that with us. If He’s been prodding you to do something new…share that with us. Share from your heart, not just from a canned piece of information that, on paper, connects the dots from one song to the next. If God really is moving your heart throughout the week, and you share from that experience, it’ll connect.

Do the work

Don’t miss this: that statement is predicated upon his hard work in seeking God throughout the week.  Don’t miss that!  It’s only after he’s done the hard work of seeking God throughout the week that he can truly share from his heart.

Writing a blog is a lot like that. Do the hard work of being real, improving your writing over time, asking probing questions of your own heart, observing life well…and the result should show an engagement with others at some level.  Am I wrong?

Justifying mediocrity

In the church world, where I operate, I’ve heard people use the phrase, “It’s not about the numbers” to refer to the fact that they don’t exist just to simply add numbers of people.  The problem is that that statement is often used when things aren’t going well, justifying a lack of effort and innovation.*  With blogging, never ever use, “It’s not about the comments and the ReTweets” to justify innovation and hard work.  Never.

If you’re aiming for mediocre, you’ll hit it every time, regardless of your field of expertise.

Question:

Do you think, “It’s not about the comments or the shares” is ever a cop-out?

Have you ever used a phrase like that to defer criticism of your lack of innovation and hard work?

*Though this isn’t always the case, and I’m not singling out any one church in particular.

*image via iStock Photo, Rellas