Popular blog-building advice suggests that bloggers place their photographs on their main page, somewhere near the top. So that visitors to their blog will have a face to identify with, adding to one’s authenticity.
This is something that I’ve been reluctant and kinda sorta afraid to do. It’s not that I doubted the quality of the photos or my own beauty. I’d had professional photos done so that I’d have images worth sharing on a website. There’s one on my ‘Meet Sabrina’ page.
Instead, I was second-guessing what visitors to my site might think if they saw I was Black first, before getting to know me. And as a Christian, the field seems even narrower.
There are some magnificent Christian bloggers around. They have such eloquence and musicality to their writing. You can feel the love of Christ seeping into you through your screen as you read their words. Their names and faces graze book covers, websites, viral posts, podcasts, conference invitations, etc. Yet, there is still an unbalance in the racial diversity in the Christian blogosphere.
Dictionary.com begins their description of fear as ‘a distressing emotion…’ Sounds accurate to me. I have yet to meet someone glowing from fear. Cowering, yes, but not exuberant and enthusiastic in their fear. Fear isn’t usually the happiest of emotions. You can use fear to propel you into positive action and make changes that have a marvelous impact on your community and the world.
Fear is what cripples us and stops us from doing much of anything worth noting. I may not have many answers, but I do have ideas. I have my own stories, experiences where sometimes race has played and continues to factor into my life. In speaking up, I’m taking a gamble, but choosing to trust God for the outcome.
This post is a step in tackling fear. Sitting in fear keeps us unproductive and unmoving. Being overly fearful about how my words may be perceived because of who I am who God created me to be only paralyzes me into silence. This form of silence does not change hearts or soften opinions. Instead, I’m choosing to take God at His word when He says
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His love. 1 John 4:18, NLT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{I’ve done something a little different today. The news stories of last week, today and tomorrow show that life is precious and that more people are willing to listen to the experiences of those different than themselves. There still a lot of close-mindedness in the world, but one heart at a time is being opened to hearing, listening and healing.}
{As always, you’re invited to join the five minute Friday community over at Kate’s place.}