Periods of inspiration are not guaranteed. You won't always wake up and feel a rush of talent. You won't always have the words choking to be spat out on paper. That would be easy. And very convenient for keeping a daily blog. I insist on having a daily blog. Not a weekly, or fortnightly or monthly or annual blog - a daily one. And so, even though I won't always feel inspired, I must "force" myself to write. There must be another source for the motivation with which to keep my blog going. And perhaps that source includes reminding myself why it is I keep a blog in the first place. This post will remind me of that. It will jerk me back to consciousness of the value keeping a blog has for me; it will keep me motivated in the duty of daily blog-posting. So why do I keep a daily blog?
I think the first reason is that I want to hone my writing. It has been said that practice makes perfect. Athletes who wish to compete at say, the Olympics always practice on and on and on. They do that to hone their skills and to keep themselves nimble and sharp. Musicians spend hours in the studio practicing over and over again songs they already know by heart, just so as to keep themselves wired for success. It's 1% inspiration as they say, and 99% perspiration. It's all about good old-fashioned grit; stick-to-it-iveness; gumption. It's all about hard work. So that's the first reason I keep a blog. I use it to hone my writing skills. I want to become a more skillful writer.
But why? Why do I want to be a more skillful writer anyway? Because I dream of having a spiritual writing career. Since I was a kid, I've been writing in some way, shape or form, as they say. But I've never really had a career. All the things I've published were self-published. I want to be a real writer. And I want to write things that help people. Fiction entertains people. I want to write things that teach people instead. Well, I know fiction also teaches in an indirect, corollary way, but I want to teach in a very direct way. Let entertainment be the indirect corollary of my teaching. I see there is suffering in the world; emotional suffering, mostly. I want to jump into the fray and see if I can be the one to say something that changes someone's life. By this I don't mean self-help. There's tons of that sort already. I've said this before. I mean human development: spirituality plus philosophy plus psychology plus theology. And each book would come with a workshop. I so want to help people, and I mean to help them in this way as well: writing human development books and workshops. And with this in mind, owning a daily blog prepares me for the mission.
I said I want to be in the business of saying things that change lives. One never fully appreciates how powerful such a situation can be. I recall that on one of the episodes of the Oprah Show a certain woman was in the audience. She was planning to go and kill herself once the show for the day was over. I don't know how she got tickets to a prestigious show like that if she was on the verge of taking her own life. But as she sat there, Oprah said something that made her decide not to kill herself any longer. You see, she had wanted to kill herself because of a painful loss, but something Oprah said gave her the courage to live with the loss courageously. And so, she did not kill herself. Many years later, when Oprah was wrapping up her show after 25 seasons, the woman came again, and she thanked Oprah for adding many more years to her life because of something the talk-show queen said many, many years previously. Imagine that. I would like to be the one that writes or says something that makes a person who had wanted to kill himself or herself decide not to any longer. I would like to hear someone say: "I was in deep quandary. I was so sad that I thought of giving up, but Samuel said something, and I was shaken from my stupor. I felt I wanted to live again." That's what I want the most. That's what I live for.
Let me share a true story. I hope the person in this story is not reading this, plus I won't mention her name, lest someone that knows her is. Now, it so happened that when I was getting my master's degree in communication and was a teaching assistant, I was walking out of my office one day and I ran into a colleague. I greeted her. I said, "Hi. How are you? I haven't seen you in a while." She said, "Oh, that's because I'm wrapping up with my drop-out process. I'm leaving the master's program. As a matter of fact, I'm on my way now to the Graduate Coordinator's office to sign my resignation papers and all." I said, "What! Please, step into my office." She obeyed, and we both walked into my office. Ah, I love that old office of mine, with the map of the world on the wall, and the shelves and the lamp, and the smell of pencils - ah, the good ol' days! Anyway, I was talking about the colleague of mine who wanted to leave the program. We entered my office and sat down. I asked her what the problem was, and she said she was losing all motivation. Nothing about the program inspired her any more. I then opened my mouth and talked for a whole hour. This is not an exaggeration. I talked for exactly one hour and about six minutes. I don't recall exactly what I told her, but the Holy Spirit, working through me, completely changed her mind. She got up and said: "I will go right now and change my resignation option." A few minutes after she had left my office, the graduate coordinator called my office landline and said, "Hey Samuel, what did you say to Ms XYZ?" I said, "Well, nothing much really." The graduate coordinator said, "We were supposed to meet to finalize her leaving today, but apparently she has made a complete 360 and wants to stay." I smiled and blessed God. Today, this lady is a master's degree holder in Communication, like I am, and is happily married, and using her degree to teach Public Speaking at the College level. Whenever I recall how God used me to make her complete her degree on time, I am grateful and joyful. Thank you God for using me to do what you did in Ms XYZ's life. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I want to do much more of such things. Please God, send me needy souls and fill my mouth with the right things to say to them, so they do not give up. Send me many more souls, O God!
God gave me words to say. I want to say them to people that need help. And I want them to get the help they need by listening to me. I want to see their eyes light up and a big grin plastered on their face. I want to help. Imagine then if this blog is helping someone. O joy! And that is why I keep a blog.
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