So I’ve thought and thought, and thought some more about what “intentional blogging” might mean for me.  And read all your thoughtful comments.  And apprecaited all your appreciation!  🙂

Why did I start blogging to begin with?  I mean, it’s not like I have nothing else to spend my time on.  Believe me, if I have a spare moment or two my floor could always use another mopping (or four), and there is always something to be caught, cut, cleaned, or cooked around here.

One day the Ladybug's help is going to be a real blessing to me.

So why?

Well, to start with, (by pointing out the obvious) I’m wordy.  And there are words that I am desperate to get out.  Words about family.  Words about grief.  Words about love.  Words about faith.  Words about choices.  Words about pain and healing.  Words about a multi-generational legacy, and the beauty of hard-work, and a lifetime spent building something you’ll never see completed.  Words about things that people just don’t talk much about anymore.

Who am I kidding? These kiddos are a blessing to me every single day!

And because I’m human and I forget things in the middle of the daily grind.  My husband is a blessing.  My children are a blessing.  This farm–throwing hay bales, scrubbing water buckets, chasing chickens, shearing sheep, tackling cows–it’s all one big, messy , muddy, stinkin’ blessing that I can easily over look without a constant heart-check.  Each post I write does that for me.  Or rather, it should.  Otherwise, why write it?

And one day they're going to see that this work is a blessing to them as well.

I think intentional blogging is a overflow from intentional living.  I’m Walkin’ in High Cotton because I actively choose (and/or force myself!) to see it that way, not because our life is somehow magically easier than the average working, farming, married, Christian, mother of 3.  And maybe in some ways intentional blogging can lead to more intentional living too.  (Or at least more intentional photography!)

And maybe one day these words will be a blessing to them as well.

So if you’re a Walkin’ in High Cotton reader, let me say this…

• I intend to to face my daily grind with a smile, and
• I intend to seek out, dig out, mine out, or otherwise scratch and claw through to God’s good plan in each moment I’m facing–which is probably the only way I’m going to find a smile to go with some of them!–and,
• I intend to share these moments with you, because if I can find a smile when my son dumps a spit-filled water bucket on the baby while a sheep is burping up slimy grass cud on my boots, you might find yourself able to smile at your day too, and
• I intend to spend a lot of time on my knees and digging into my bible through this process–’cause I have no doubt it ain’t always gonna be so easy.

Let’s just start there and see where it takes us.  I think things are just starting to get interesting around here.

And don’t forget to stop back by at lunchtime for some Wednesday Windings!