Why blog?

This is my first experience with blogging. My ramblings usually take the form of excessively long Facebook messages or text messages to my closest friends, but as I have lately expressed greater concern for the hearts of younger teen girls around me and sought a fitting medium for sharing some of my thoughts with them, I am now turning to blogger.com. Before today I considered submitting articles for an online magazine, organizing a youth conference, leaving the responsibility up to my youth minister, or ignoring the notion altogether. Instead, I plan to wrap up this post, click publish, and disclose the first bundle of my thoughts online for public review.


When asked to submit a title for my blog, I immediately thought of Song of Solomon 2:2, the verse posted at the top of this page. Also posted on my Facebook profile, this verse continually reminds me of how I ought to live in this world. Romans 12:2 with its call for Christians to no longer conform to the world's ways does the same, but the words of Solomon speak to my heart somewhat differently. Solomon's comparison of a virtuous woman to a tender lily evokes the image of a very (to borrow the phrasing of Leslie Ludy) set-apart female. As vulnerable as any flower petal, she is delicate, but not weak, for her strength comes from the Lord. And she is not delicate as in timid, but instead has a heart that bends easily with compassion for others. Such a woman is not callous toward sin. Her heart radiates God’s mercy, and as the thorns crowd around, she endures resiliently. Yes, it is such a standard as this to which I must hold myself.


One of my new favorite writers is Elisabeth Elliot. Just this morning, I read a quote from her which rather simply, yet also quite strikingly, sums up my intentions for not only this blog, but also my daily walk: “The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman. For I have accepted God’s idea of me, and my whole life is an offering back to Him of all that I am and all that He wants me to be.”


I hope this blog becomes a means to hold myself accountable as I strive to be this “darling among the maidens.” I want to be accountable not only to God and to myself, but also to other lilies reading my words. And maybe even some thorns…