The Setting

One element of a good story is the setting. It puts the reader in a time and place. I want to take a moment today to share the setting of my future posts. I want to share the elements you can expect to see in the background of my words, and then explain a few housekeeping details as I am preparing to grow with you.

A calm space to breathe

I thrive in calm, quiet, peaceful environments. My love for organizing, removing clutter, and simple beauty are qualities woven into the fabric of my being. Many times in the past, when words failed me, I’ve played with my blog’s design. I settled on what you see now about six months ago and I plan to stick with the simplicity of it for a while. I hope you’ll find it a restful place.

I’ve been working on small tweaks here and there. Over the next couple weeks, you’ll see the categories change in the Archives, and old posts will be put in new homes. I hope this will make it easier to sort the growing pains content from the growing up content.

Photography

This is where I play, and where I seek and capture beauty in the gifts that God has given. The images I make are not works of photographic excellence, but they are works of love. When you visit this space, you’ll find my photos intertwined with my words. Sometimes they’ll go together, often they won’t. I’m okay with that.

If you’ve found me and followed my blog through a photography site, please know that photography will no longer be a focus of my writing. Of course, if you like my images, they’ll continue to be in every post. And if you enjoy my new words, I’m all the more delighted.

Small

No doubt about it, my blog is small. By the time blogs reach their fourth birthday, many have gained tens of thousands of followers. Mine doesn’t even have tens of tens. And for me, right now, it’s fitting. I’ve learned small is very good. It fits right in with my small town life, where wide-open farmland is only a short walk away, and my small church, where it feels like family and where a Sunday absence does not go unnoticed.

Most of all, it’s fitting for the words I plan to speak. As I write, I’m not imagining tens of thousands, or even tens of tens. I’m imagining a friend, sitting across from me on the sofa. I’m imagining flailing my arms as I do when I’m sharing something that excites me. I’m imagining leaning in and speaking softly when the truth is hard to say, but the love is pure. I’m imagining pausing to pray, or to give a hug when tears flow – the sad and the happy ones. I’m imagining the one. I hope you’ll feel as if the one were you.

Are you starting to feel at home here? Tomorrow I’ll reveal the story that will unfold in this setting, so if you have an extra moment, I’d be grateful for your prayers.