Hitting a Nerve: Why some blog posts "take off"

This post reminds me of this book (one of my favorites)

Wow! Sometimes I'm really surprised at how things take off. Take yesterday's post, for example. It didn't exactly "go viral", but there was a huge up-tick in terms of response. I started by throwing in a couple of good photographs, then simply added a few words as they put themselves together. I realized that I was talking about "seizing the moment", and so I wrapped up the post with the phrase, "I won't write well tomorrow by holding back today."

The words spoke to me, so I repeated them and then built on the idea in closing.

• I can’t love any better tomorrow by holding back today
• I won’t give more tomorrow if I don’t share everything I have today
• I’m less likely to spend time with the people I love tomorrow if I withhold time from them today
• I won’t change the world tomorrow unless I’m prepared to change it today
• I’ll never live a life-charged life  - at all – if I wait until tomorrow to begin….

To me it was a simple reiteration of an emerging modus operandi that is foundational to my understanding of how we live what I've been calling "the Life-Charged Life". And it seemed to touch a nerve.

So today I'm thinking about what becomes possible:

• When we live as if the words of the scriptures we read and the hymns we sing really are true...
• And when we reach into the depths of who we are in the faith and the confidence that we will be replenished, and that we can "go deep" again and again...
• And when we make the shift from being merely the people who like to say, "Lord, Lord" all the time... and into becoming the people who actually live in the Kingdom Jesus taught us to occupy.

I really, really like the way the "Lord, Lord" passage is phrased in "The Message" translation of the Matthew 7 text (21-23). This is what Jesus said to those who had ears to hear (and Jesus us still saying it today):

"Knowing the correct password—saying 'Master, Master,' for instance— isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, 'Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I am going to say? 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here.'"

Inspired by Jesus - always - DEREK