February 28, 2017
As this journal was originally intended to help others deal with starting a ministry it’s time to get down to practicalities. And I’ve long had a problem with reconciling the practical and the godly. Take marriage for example, two people ordained by God to be joined together as one. Something incredibly beautiful and much of it comes down to whats for dinner? There seems to be this huge discrepancy between the two. And it is this discrepancy of moving from the godly to the practical which has always made me uncomfortable. It seems so cold somehow. Until this morning when I come across this passage:
In the midst whereof above shall be a hole for the head, and a border round about it woven, as is wont to be made in the outmost parts of garments, that it may not easily be broken. Exodus 28:32
The entire passage is dealing with the details of putting together the priestly vestments, but the last part about reinforcing the neck, so it wouldn’t rip popped out at me. It seemed so very practical. I wonder if this is part of what Paul means when he says in Phillipians 2:12 to “work out your salvation”? We do need to work out how we are going to live God’s truths.
Might as well start in and get my hands dirty by putting some aspects of a magazine into practice here on the blog. I’m changing the category name “Journaling my magazine experience” to “Journaling the Inspired LIfe” because it really is more than just about a magazine.
[That was the shortest-lived title ever. The Inspired Life is already being used. Oh well, I like God-breathed better and it probably has more masculine appeal, then the Inspired Life. That’s taken, also. Infused? This is not bad because it gives the sense of infusing everything we do and there is a sense of fusing of God and man, but the Infused Life doesn’t really do it for me. The Fused Life? I’m going to have to do another sit-down.]
[Regardless, of that title] I’m not going to change the name of the blog because living an inspired life and starting a magazine just adds more layers to the title I already have. I do need to update the About page. It should reflect the added layers.
I also need to change the graphic for the journal posts to reflect it. Right now, I’m using a very feminine image for the background which probably wouldn’t attract very many men. Since, I believe that an inspired life would be applicable to both men and women I need to change that graphic out. I’ll have to research what appeals to both. I think it’s something like strong patterns with muted colors. And it needs to reflect inspiration, while still keeping the journal aspect of it. A piece of religious art or a window with the sun shining through it in the background, perhaps?
I’ve decided on a window in the background with an overlay of a woman writing. Journaling is like a window into the soul, so it’s applicable. They have strong lines, which should suit men and most images of them have flowers in them, so it has a touch of femininity, also. Plus, windows are very intriguing [went with just the window for now].
I also need to vary up the background image for the journaling posts. I was over at Social Media Examiner and for the different types of posts they had an icon representing what type of post it was; much like I’m doing here. When you had a list of the same type of posts in front of you the icons were the same. Seeing that over and over again got old really quick. If someone decides to pull up all the journal entries the same thing is going to happen to them because those post images all use the same background. Probably, should have about 7 different ones: one for each day of the week. Similar enough, so it is recognizable as a journal entry post, but different enough so there is variety.
On discovering why God chose a magazine, figured out a couple of things about my blog posts. The This Week posts are similar to a magazine cover in that it tells about what’s inside. The only difference is that the material is not all in one spot. Instead it’s being released over a week. In addition, I don’t know that people realize what the This Week post is for. I’m going to change out the photo for that post to look more like a magazine cover. I’ll include the titles of the posts and, instead of page numbers, I’ll have the dates those posts are coming out. Also, like a magazine my posts for a certain week seem to be themed. Since the letters from the editor in a magazine explain what the theme is for that issue I’ll include that also. Up until recently I’ve just been listing the names of the posts without really tying them together.
I might want to find someone to do a cover mock up for me. I’m going to need experience in articulating my wants to artists and writers someday. Might as well get some practice in now.
Since these articles are related and need to stand on their own do I need to somehow reference the previous and/or upcoming articles in the one they are reading? I read somewhere that in the Harry Potter series J.K. Rowling did an excellent job of working the backstory into the current story. Look for an article that explains how she did this and see if it will work for what I’m doing here.
I wonder if I should include the weekly roundup in the weekly theme: choose stories that contribute to the overall theme for the week? That would be similar to a magazine having different writers contributing the different aspects of the theme or topic without me having to write them. Every since this started I’ve been writing like crazy. Another prayer answered!
That means that I’ll need to start planning out weeks farther ahead, much like a magazine does, to make sure that the posts are ready to go, themed, and on time. That last one is going to be hard for me. I may have to plan ahead five years.
My task list is getting longer and longer. I feel like an editor-in-training!!!!!
The Word(s) in My Life 