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Cats, Birds and Other Things That Can’t Communicate
Posted by SelahV in Uncategorized
Which are you in this photo?
Are you trying to get someone’s attention with your words and actions? Do they lie sleeping? Are you being ignored? Do you wonder why?
Sometimes we are unable to communicate with others because we speak two different languages. One brings thoughts and views on what is important to be a Christian (or Southern Baptist) as they understand them from a feline’s perspective. Then one brings his thoughts to the conversation and they come from a background of feathered friends. Both breathe the same air. Both have the same Creator. But somehow communication goes south each time they gather at the river. When logs and boulders are tossed into the water, they often impede the progress of any real communication at all.
In the year and a half that I’ve been blogging, I’ve found myself grabbing onto some logs to keep afloat. Each time I’ve been in a stream where a boulder is tossed, I jump out of the way to avoid the spray. Some folks love those boulders; they love dodging them. Some folks try to catch them and they are taken under by the weight of them. (I’ve done that a couple of times, till I almost drowned. Not a fun lesson to learn.) Thankfully, there have been some folk who’ve tossed me a life-preserver so I could get back to shore.
Ever wish you’d just not gone to the river? Ever realize that some rivers are too polluted to approach, much less dangle a fishing line? Ever put your line in the river hoping to get a bite to eat and realize your bait (question) didn’t even get a nibble? Ever had your bait swallowed and when you get your hook back, it is stripped clean without any fish to show for it? Sometimes, I think that is what a lot of blogs are. They aren’t there to give anyone anything . They aren’t there to try and open dialog, but to shut it down.
The other day my granddaughter, her hubby, little Conner and I went to the beach. Along the shoreline were hundreds of cars, trucks and people. Mind you, they weren’t there to swim. They weren’t even walking the beach. They were all lined up waiting for something to happen. They were waiting to see an event. Whatever that event was, I’ll never know. We finally found a place to park and took Conner out to play in the sand and along the shallow water’s edge. The waves were the little 6-inch type that rolled lazily into the shore. Conner had a ball, chasing them on his hands and knees. We stayed there for over an hour. But we never saw anything happening in the ocean that warranted all the folks gathered on the sidelines.
Some folks in blogland have big numbers who come to their rivers and just sit, waiting for something to happen. Some step into the water and play on the beach in the sand. They enjoy their time in the sun and are grateful for the experience. Then there are those who complain about how cold the water is, or how hot the sun is. They don’t want to fish, and they don’t want to build sandcastles. Some folks get tired of waiting for some spectacular event; they just want to throw rocks and collect driftwood for another day. Others move on, as did several of the hundreds of people who’d come to that shore last Sunday and saw nothing of interest.
In the blogging world, we have many cats and birds. Some are cool, and some are dirty. Some are sweet as kittens and as endearing as parakeets. Then some are tigers and vultures, while others are lions and eagles. The joy I find in blogging–especially on blogs like this one, is that we really do want to provide enough fish for everyone to get a meal. But when you’re a cat and someone else is a bird, it’s really tough to communicate sometimes. If only we could all speak the same language. selahV
[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]
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The photo appears to be hosted on AOL’s Webmail service, and it looks like you have to have an AOL account to get to it. My guess is that you received it via email, and posted using the link to where it resides in the AOL mail system. For everyone to see it, you’d need to move it to a different web site, and repoint the img tab to point to the new location.
Photo or no photo, great observations! I really like the river analogy! Thanks SelahV!
Katie, thanks. don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. but then I’m getting a bit senile, so I may have forgotten. Thanks for stopping by with you confirmation. Pity the photo didn’t show. It was simply adorable. I had an entire post of them on my blog and they didn’t come up either. I’ll have to wait till I get back to Oklahoma to fix the situation. Glad you got my drift from what wood have been a better idea. selahV
Ben…thanks for the tips. another person emailed me and told me that, too. I did get my photos from an email. But as I told Katie, I’m not home to save them and rework them. AOL has some great pluses, but also many minuses. Good to hear from you again. How’s Georgia?
Great post as usual. I have had many of these same thoughts. I have also concluded that blogging for me can only ever be an investment into the temporary, and should never extend past the realm of educational entertainment. I have found that I absorb from blogs as I do from casual life experience. Though there is some gain, it seems the time spent on blogs versus engaging in books, academic writing, ministry, evangelism and personal communication is time never to be preserved for edification. The reason being is that the blogosphere is built on shifting sand, and any attempt to ‘build-up” upon it will be covered by the coming tides of rumor, innuendo, accusation, belligerence, arrogance and foolishness.
Too many great posts are engaged only to be forgotten, and too many terrible posts are engaged only to receive zero accountability from the author.
Well, Colin, I find myself thinking a bit differently as far as the temporary investment of blogging. I try to write in such a way that the Lord is able to use it to bring others closer to Him and to reconcile others with one another. Both are tall orders, but I truly love the folks God has brought my way through blogging. Some I could do without, but even those who give me no light ignite the wick in on my lampstand to be a brighter flame in the world.
In my beginning stages of blogging, I read dozens of blogs and comments. Those have dwindled immensely. Some blogs just aren’t worth reading and some posts aren’t either. I’m pretty selective these days. selahV
SelahV,
I am not saying there are no worthwhile efforts in blogging. For what I have found when I compare my pursuits online versus elsewhere, there is very little I can grasp, recollect, or look back upon online that comes close to measuring up to other pursuits. It is most assuredly a personal reflection and certainly not universal.
I heard a man proclaim that Christian authors should only write books if God is pressing it upon them as a desire that cannot be quenched. The reason being is the amount of books on the shelf at the local Christian bookstore. There are too many, and expecially too many bad ones. And this is similar to what I see online. To many bad posts. But even on good posts, there are too many bad comments. The problem is that comments tend to correct the mistakes in the posts (which are way too common given the lack of editorial spirit among bloggers), yet what must one wade through to get the good comments? Further, in the future, what is there to pull up from the past to read without having to muddle through the comments?
I do find many if not most of your posts to be edifying, uplifting and often a rebuke to my disobedience, and that is why I read them. Yet even on Impact, just a few posts ago, there was a piece that was simply terrible. The discernment factor is high, and when blogging is weighed in the balance in the pursuit of the Celestial City, it still is found wanting.
Colin,
Thank you for your candor and forthrightness in your appraisal of the blogging enterprise. I find myself for the most part agreeing with you. Even being a contributor here, I find it often difficult to comment and often fear posting simply because there is almost always a backlash even when you post something that is anticipated to be innocuous.
I do see some eternal weight in blogging and even in commenting though. Often I have encouraged a soul at just the right time or written something that resonated with someone looking for what might have been on my heart at the time.
Much like my preaching, in blogging, I aim and fire and almost inevitably, someone responds, “Preacher, that was just what I needed to hear.” I comment in return to you simply because your words here, I heard a man proclaim that Christian authors should only write books if God is pressing it upon them as a desire that cannot be quenched.
Dave Black recently blogged here on that same attitude that should characterize ANY Christian undertaking.
I would agree with on a further note, our SelahV is a top drawer blogger and I have often been encouraged and edified by her posts. They are well worth the read.
Again, thanks for your contribution here; it has blessed me and encouraged me greatly today.
Colin, thanks so much for your openness with your thoughts. While I do not know to which post you mean was “terrible”, I am ever grateful you continue to read us. (and especially me!
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Your comments are always filled with wisdom and light and give me much to consider when I finish reading them. I will never forget some of the wisdom from you throughout blogland. I do wish I had my Quotables blog up at the time. I could have posted so many of yours to that blog. I really get excited when I think of you having your own future ministry and all you will contribute to the SBC. Mark my words, my brother, God is going to use you mightily. And I will be the first to read YOUR first book if possible. For when you write it, I am certain it will have been something worth reading as God will not let you go till you give it away.
I am extremely humbled that my posts have added to your walk with our Master. Truly. And so blessed to know. selahV
Tony, bless your heart! Thank you for those encouraging words. Sometimes we all wonder where our posts go, and what they do. We wonder if they are just the plunk in the pond or ripples in the surface. Your support means a great deal to me.
Colin speaks much wisdom here. Some of the very reason I do not comment on posts is because of the attacks on everything I say as if I’m talking to or about someone personally. That bothers me, not because I am afraid to respond, but because a response can take away from the post and the topic altogether, and then be one of those comments that take away from the meal that the entre’ had meant to deliver.
And when I am tempted to chew on an appetizing tidbit that is served up on the side by a passing waiter, I find I lose my appetite for the meal. Gosh, I’m hungry. Gotta go refill my coffee and get me something to eat. Blessings brother, you remain in my thoughts and prayers. selahV
Tony: Thank you. I may not be able to fully convey what I feel about it, since, of course, I am still blogging! I do see an eternal weight, and though God undoubtedly uses us through it, it seems the eternal weight is more often reflected in what blogging could be rather than what it is. Hopefully we can come to a place in Christian blogging, in Baptist blogging and in Southern Baptist blogging where mutual accountability and a Christian spirit rule the day. If everyone posted with the diserning spirit you consistently demonstrate, there would be little to complain about.
SelahV: Thank you as always. You give me far more encouragement than I deserve.
Hi Mrs. Hariette,
Reading your comment 10 I hope you don’t ever get upset about my comments such as You didn’t have to write about me cause I love to read your posts which I enjoy every day .I also hope Bro. Tony and You don’t get upset when I don’t comment ? When I say things like that is cause I’m being a little mischevious ?
I have been blessed to with many other blogs that had good words to post and have found the answer to many things I didn’t understand ?
Blessings to all.
Ron.
Ron, goodness no, you never say a thing that upsets me, dear Ron. You’re one of the ones I do believe becomes a ripple that runs deep within the pond. I am always blessed by you. Always. I, too, ask a bunch of questions on blogs. Some have been misinterpreted at times as baiting. It’s sad that there is this mistrust amongst the brethren, but until we are all made complete, I suppose that is what we must contend with.
I pray the pioneers who are blazing the trails for future Christian bloggers will fall deeply in love with the Savior and seek to honor him and not themselves. That’s all I’d like to see. Bless you, brother and thanks for commenting. selahV
Brother Ron,
I have told you before, I don’t worry about you. I’ll sic your renegade preacher on you if you get out of hand.
Only joking, brother. You are a blessing in every comment thread you enter. And I mean that. Many blessings for you in this day.
Bro. Tony,
If I tell Bro. Gordon what you called Him He will probable come up with a good message on Sunday Morning ?
He’s a proud man but I keep Him on His toes cause if I see Him drop His head I always tell Him To hold His Head up and keep smiling ? The journey is long and hard but its worth it !
” Renagade ” You must have heard that word on tv or the blogging world cause I don’t ever remember it being wrote in The Good Book ?
Blessings.
Ron.
Ps – Mrs Hariette stand by cause I might need a referee ?
Selah V, Great post as always. I appreciate your willingness to blog on this subject. I enjoy reading posts that uplift and encourage (those that spread the love).
It is a shame when those that comment attack the post and the poster rather than agree to disagree, and/or state their opinion with grace and respect for the other person. Once we comment on a post it is out there for all to see, believers and non-believers alike. May God help our speech to always be with grace.