Jennifer Clark Tinker Living Faith

Relating well is what matters most to me

Even as I struggle to find my voice here on my blog, I am not giving up. I’m willing to allow imperfections as I learn to express myself better with my writing. My realization that I’m not doing as well as I’d like motivates me to refine my purpose.

What My Purpose Isn’t

For starters, I realized that I can’t be what I’m not. I’ve been trying to stay current on what’s happening in the world and in the blogosphere and using those things as inspiration.

What I’ve noticed is that when I try to write about what’s trending, that’s when my voice is weakest. Why? Because even if I pour my heart into a thoughtful reflection on something current, the topic itself didn’t come from my heart.

The Purpose on My Heart

I started out with a pretty general purpose, to blog about living out my faith in daily life. I didn’t realize in the beginning how broad that topic could be. It was easy enough to justify writing about whatever was current as long as I could relate it to what it means to live out the Christian faith.

I discovered that what is most on my heart about how I live out my faith is how I live in relationship with other people. The books I read, the things I teach my son, the things that keep me awake at night are all about relating well (or the failure to do so). These are the things that I need to write about here.

Practical Matters

What has helped me over time is practical, down-to-earth ideas about how to honor others in relationships. Much of what I can share is from a lifetime of reading and learning about this stuff. I can offer ideas about relating well from my own experience of integrating these ideas over time.

I never want to come across as having it all together though. Some of what I can share is hard-won from having royally messed up in a relationship. Other times, I can share ideas that I am still working to integrate, but that I believe are better ways than what I’ve been doing.

The Purpose Behind the Voice

As I’ve thought this through some more and refined my purpose, I admit to being just a little nervous. It’s kind-of scary to narrow my focus. Maybe it’s still too amorphous! But the clarity that I feel gives me hope for finding my voice.