JUMP-start to Blogging JOY

There’s never a good time for it to happen. You hop in your car, turn the key in the slot, and hear rrrrrr….rrr…r….. followed by dead silence. “It can’t be!” you tell yourself, and try again. Same story. The expedition you’d planned is brought to a screeching halt by something as simple as a dead battery.

Forget the dog, in that moment, jumper cables become a man’s best friend. Cables …and another car battery to hook them onto, that is! In no time at all you’re on your way again.

The Blogging A to Z Challenge has been the connection that got my blogging engine going again when my enthusiasm for writing in general was beginning to run a little low. Switching from part time to full time status on my job changed more than just my paycheck, it rescheduled my life, and somehow my computer time was lost in the shuffle. I was fighting to keep my writing momentum and losing the battle to the busyness of every day.

Somewhere along the way I saw the Challenge link on another blog. My interest piqued, I visited the site…and a spark caught. In the months before it began I thought of little else and much of what writing time I had went into preparing my other blog for the adventure. Then the idea of starting this one as a writing exercise caught hold, and soon I was off and running again, full speed ahead. The connection with other bloggers, their encouraging comments and shared excitement keeps the charge going and growing.

I’ve had to make some changes, to be sure. I sleep less, for one. And if it were possible, I clean house less, too. I have to really focus on tasks during my non-writing hours to ensure that what absolutely has to get done gets finished, so that I can continue with this project and keep my job, marriage and family intact at the same time. When I wonder what will happen after the month is over, I am encouraged by the thought that jumper cables are removed after the engine is started and the car continues to run on its own. I vow to be more careful to keep a charge going in my writing battery from this point on.

Perhaps all of us have experienced a time when our enthusiasm for life has taken a nosedive, as well. The joy with which we greeted each day has slowly run down until we find that even getting out of bed in the morning is now a challenge in itself. Sometimes all it takes is to hook up with others who are still running strong and let a spark from their joy reignite a passion for living in us as well. Spiritual energy is transferred, a spark is caught, and on we go, determined to make whatever changes are necessary in our lives to maintain the charge.

The difference is that now we keep our spiritual jumper cables with us at all times, not because we need them any longer, but because we are looking for someone else who does.

“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people…”
(Galatians 6:10 NIV)