This year I participated in Lent.
This is notable for several reasons. One: I am a Baptist. Two: I have never recognized Lent before. Three: I didn’t even know what it meant (thanks google).
But, I had a nudging from the Holy Spirit that I needed to give up my obsession keen interest in some numbers. My blog numbers or stats as we call them in the blogosphere.
For those of you that aren’t bloggers, there are several programs you can use to keep track of the number of people that visit your blog, what articles they find interesting, what google search terms brought them to you (this is a hilarious activity in and of itself) and much more. We bloggers can become quite attached to viewing our stats on a minute by minute daily basis.
It is good information to have with the right perspective.
But with the wrong perspective, the enemy can use your stats to make you doubt yourself, fill your heart with selfish ambition, have you write things to please your audience rather than please God…you can easily get off the right path.
So, for the last forty days I haven’t looked at mine. It was really hard for the first few days and God had to deal with me about my warped perspective.
How my “success” has nothing to do with what anyone thinks except Him!
I even had to tell a PR rep (who shouldn’t have asked anyway) that I couldn’t tell them my current stats because I had given up following them for Lent. I will probably never hear from them again. So be it!
Let me tell you friends…my writing changed. I was writing about the things on my heart without care of who was reading or who may stop reading. I was writing for an audience of One and it felt great! It feels great because I am going to continue to do it.
Yes, I will look at my stats occasionally because they are valuable information to have. But will I care if a certain post didn’t get the hits I thought it would? No. Because I have been reminded that God sends the people to read my posts that are meant to read them. And if what I write touches one person’s heart than His mission is accomplished through me.
Today, I unwrap the gift of not caring about numbers. And, my friends it is a freeing gift.
I wonder what God will have me relinquish next year. I can’t wait!
This post is linked here.
