Well, it's been quite a week since I called out The Bloggess. I've gotten quite a bit more traffic to the site as I had hoped, and hopefully a few of you will even stay. Two of my favorite bloggers are now following me on Twitter, and I wasn't even a twit, er, a tweep, er, a .. well, whatever twitter-lovers are, just a week ago.
I've even been told by someone that I am scarier than they are... which I think is a compliment. I hope it's one.. Perhaps that person will come back and let me know.
I can see the traffic to specific posts, but I don't know how many of you are coming back for the blog. I hope a lot.
It has been an exciting week and a fun one. I hope that it is just the beginning of a long and beautiful relationship with you, my audience, and that something I say makes you laugh, or stay, or read, or think.
I admit I am kind of between careers right now. Currently I am "consulting" which is a three-syllable fancy word for an outsider you pay money to look in. I do a variety of things, and hopefully I provide value, but it really is a catch-all for someone who is a contractor who will do whatever you need. Or think you need.
But I was talking with my father the other day, and not for the first time, thinking, I guess, that I need career advice, he suggested I consider becoming a priest. This from a man who probably hasn't been to church since I was baptized, but we'll ignore that part.
I think, to be fair, it is his way of acknowledging my "spiritual" side which has grown like a weed despite my parents raising. I have a strong faith, and in the face of "recent" turmoil, it is my faith that has kept me strong. It is a faith that they never gave me, but I have managed to find nonetheless.
I think it also a way to acknowledge his recognition that my church is an important part of my life. I go every Sunday. I am active in my church (I've forgotten what number that was on the list, but I know it was there).
I think, to be fair, it was his way of saying he loves me no matter who I am.
And for that, I am tremendously grateful.
But it's not the first time he has suggested in recent years I consider being a priest, nor the only one who has made such a suggestion. Usually I quite quickly answer "No.." but am unable to articulate why it's not the job for me. But I know it's not. They see someone who is a great listener, who can counsel friends and help them through crisis. They see someone who has great faith in a higher being. They see someone who is quick to help others. They see someone who goes to church a lot. They see someone who likes to talk. (They also see someone who is celibate, but I'm not Catholic (and then I'd have the whole being a woman and being gay problem, anyway) so that shouldn't be something calling me to the priesthood).
I finally came up, though, with the foolproof answer as to why I can't be a priest. One my father could agree with - although he may bring it up again, who knows.. Thanks to my ADD I don't have the patience to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation - Alpha to Omega - and I think that might be a small requirement. He bought it, at least.
Now I have read more of the Bible than I suspect many people, including those who thump their Bibles (and what exactly happens when one thumps a Bible - or rather what does one expect will happen? God will Morse code a message back to you??), but I have far from read the whole thing, nor do I have any desire to do so. I can fight scripture with scripture if I have to - although the person who wrote the letter to Dr. Laura that was later paraphrased and re-done on The West Wing has done such a good job for most things, I don't need to bother. (That and the MasterCard spoof -- about a tattoo someone had on their arm about Leviticus saying homosexuality was wrong, that a few verses later in Leviticus that thou shalt not tattoo made this tattoo priceless -- also works. You probably have to see it...)
But I guess there is a part of me that is looking for a pulpit. A place to expound upon the observations I have made in life and perhaps a place, ideally, to give others some food for thought in their own lives. Not a bully pulpit, I hope. I don't know that what I think is necessarily right. I know it works for me most times, but that doesn't mean it would work for everyone, or that it is even right for me. However, I do think I have a few things of value to share, and I do seem to enjoy sharing them and hope that others might find some value.
And that, my friends, may be part of the underlying drive to blog. To find my pulpit. Without having to read the whole Bible. And this week I have seen my little "church" grow. And it pleases me.
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