Responding

My dear readers,

I'm surprised there are any at all - but apparently there are a lot of you! And I certainly didn't expect anyone from Russia or Israel to read this, but they/you have!

And this has led me to ponder my 'authorial responsibility' as Alexander McCall Smith puts it. As I'm putting words, thoughts, ideas, expressions out there, into the public sphere, into your sphere of notice, I've engaged you in conversation, but with very little knowledge of you and your circumstances, and the way my words impact you. In my face to face interactions, I try to be sensitive to those things, but alas, this medium does not afford me that extra information to ground my manner and intention.

So, I wanted to encourage you to feel free to respond. I don't just mean to leave comments, although that's totally fine, anonymous or not, I don't mind at all!

But also, what I've written may in turn provoke you to write. Or sing, paint, draw, invade, protest, whatever, and I would love you to share that also if you'd like. If you have a blog, or a picture, or a song, please feel free to leave a link in a comment on this page, so we can all share it, and hear both sides of the conversation.

What I've written may frustrate or anger you, make you sad or happy or sentimental or sick. I'm not too afraid of that, and if anything I do is real, there should be real reactions. So please share.

Also, what I've written may provoke you to think. I've written from my own perspective, that of a modern, western, female Christian. I love Jesus, He is my saviour, my boss, my knight in shining armour, my judge and my lover. That's what it means to me to 'be a Christian'.

I eat as often as possible from the feast of His words in the Bible. They inspire all the prayer and poetry in me. No doubt you can easily find a Bible somewhere, but you can also look here www.biblegateway.com if that's easier. Take it, read it, it's better than anything I put on this blog because it is the very words of God. That God who causes so much controversy, who some believe in and some don't. The God who many don't think they know. He's having a conversation with you too, so let it be two-sided as well.

Love love, Joanna.