A change in direction

Every once in a while I evaluate why I'm blogging. Most of the time I think I just enjoy the act of writing. I used to keep a journal, now I keep a blog. It really hasn't been a huge transition for me except that my posts aren't quite as personal as my journal entries. 

Personal things are things you don't share with anyone, right?  Personal things are things you keep to yourself... or at least that's the view that I've had in the past. I think I'm nervous to show who I am on my blog - the icky, the grouchy, the helpless, the fickle, etc. I'm only willing to show the things I like to do and things that don't affect me on a deep personal level. I've made a few exceptions here and there, but have always shifted to lighter subjects directly afterward.

After analyzing this, I've realized that I don't want to share only the artificial things, but I'm not sure I'm ready to share the inner-workings of my soul.  After discussing this with Andy, we've decided that we want to share about marriage. We want to share the joys of marriage and the struggles. We're hoping that our experiences will encourage others in their own marriages and/or present a story of an honest marriage that is seeking to love eachother and the Lord more everyday.

Some days I'll post about the things going on in our marriage - the wonderful, the difficult, and the just plain normal. Other days, I'll post How-To's: the things we've learned to do in our marriage that makes fighting more peaceful or divying responsibilities less complicated. I'm also thinking of having guest bloggers from every stage of life post about their marriage experiences.

The goal of this change of direction in our blog is to encourage those of us who are married, someday will be married, and anyone who is in the life of someone who is married. Marriage affects us all.  Our marriages now will affect the lives, character, and marriages of the future. I believe that marriage is so much more than simply waking up next to someone everyday for the next 80+ years.  I believe it is so much more than just "getting by." I believe it is a holy calling to present an example of Christ to the world - to show, in our love for our spouse, the love of Christ for his church.  As such, I think it is worth discussing and sharing.

So look forward to lots of blog posts about marriage!

[Side Note: I think it is great that we named our blog - AndyandElisha. It is so fitting to smush our names together into one long name when discussing marriage. We're no longer Andy AND Elisha, but AndyandElisha. We're one unit. One enitity.]

If you are interested in guest blogging about marriage, please email me your ideas for a topic you are interested in at: elishacatts(at)gmail(dot)com.