Why I blog.

A friend sent me this quote a while back, and it's resonated for a while.  It's a quote from Stephanie Paulsell writing about Marguerite d'Oingt, who was a Catholic nun, writer, and mystic, I believe.  She said, “To write in such a way as to invite both thought and love is to write on behalf of others. It is to practice writing as a spiritual discipline that has the good of others at its heart. It is to write in a way that exposes one’s hopes and motivations, that betrays one’s love.” 

I'm feeling pretty down about our life abroad right now -- well, mine specifically.  Feeling misunderstood, or not really known, is a horrible form of loneliness, and it's popped up a lot over the last year and a half that we've lived in Romania.  I always thought of myself as an open person, an honest person, and a person who was really genuinely interested in other people.  Living here has exposed me to the harsh reality that I am not as open, loving, or selfless as I liked to think -- that actually, I have a lot of growing to do in all of these things.

But when I write about our experience here in Lupeni, in our newsletter and on this blog and in the emails we share with friends in other places we've called home, I feel like I can be myself.  I can be honest.  I can share my heart, what I really mean, and hopefully -- oh, I so hope! -- betray my love.

Even if I can't always do it in person.

So here's to the growth that's happening, to having the good of others at heart.  And may it take all sorts of forms.