The Tale of the Turnip

I have been a blog-reading junkie for a long while now and I have to admit that all of these years of surfing blogs I have gone the gamut of “I should blog.” to “No way would I ever blog.” with the latter being the most prominent feeling. But in the past few months I have had blog entries come to me in words that were not my own (and if you know me at all, I’m not a person of many words so when things come to me in full sentences or paragraphs, I know to sit up and pay attention!) As a result, the idea has been deliberated repeatedly. A silly thing for most people, perhaps, but for me it was such a hard decision because I’m not a public person, I don’t share many things with many people and I don’t have oodles of time to sit and write (especially since writing is so laborious for me) and also I’m the kind of person that if I start something, I feel obligated to continue (the feeling of needing to keep it up still weighs very heavily on me). But in December when Elder Ballard urged church members to use blog media to share truths, I knew I needed to give life to those words that have been coming to me.

So what does all of this have to do with The Tale of the Turnip? Read on :).

A few years ago my parents gave one of my boys this book for their birthday. I love it. I love it so much that I used it every time I could as a teacher. I used it as a vocabulary builder, I used it to teach prediction skills, I used it to teach context clues and I used it as a writing springboard. And now I’ve got another purpose for it (but that will come later on). I haven’t read it for a while and I’m too lazy to go downstairs and dig it up so bear with me as I paraphrase it:

There was a farmer who didn’t have much, just the clothes on his back and his family and farm. He was neighbors with a “squire who lived in a great swanky house” who had cows and horses and pigs and chickens and “who knows what else”. Well, one year, this farmer planted a lot of turnips. Some of them grew and some of them didn’t, but right bang in the middle of one of his fields grew a ginormous turnip. So he heaved it out of the ground and took it to show the king. The king was impressed.. . . .very impressed. . . .so impressed, actually, that he gave the farmer a cartload of gold in exchange for this very large turnip. Well, this squire-neighbor-dude was a tad bit jealous and he thought he could top the farmer’s gift to the king. And thinking he could get a grander gift from the king than the farmer got with a turnip, he found his very best horse and gussied him up then put him in a wagon (“so as to not to wear him out”) and took it to the king. True to the squire’s expectations, the king was very impressed with his gift. In fact the king was so overwhelmed with awe that he didn’t know what he had in his possession that could equal this amazing horse. But never fear, this quick-thinking king sent the squire home with the grandest-coolest thing in his possession: The Champion Turnip.

So what you say? All too often I'm just like that darn squire. How many times do I, out of whatever reason, get my expectations worked up to where they shouldn’t be only to end up disappointed, discontented and frustrated? (*please* tell me I’m not the only one!) And even worse, sometimes, like the squire, I do things for an external reward. Part of my issue with starting a blog has been the nagging question: “Who am I blogging for?” I’m not interesting enough for anybody to stick around for very long, I’m not offering a product or a service others are interested in, my family hears enough from me, I keep enough journals that I don’t know that I need another form. . . yet something within is driving me to do this. And I’ve learned that when I have those experiences I just need to follow. Sadly, though, far too often I follow those promptings (revelations, inspirations, call them what you want) with an expectation that something good will follow. And while I’m positive that is always the case, I can’t usually immediately see the good that comes and I beat myself up for taking the risk. So in following the direction to do this blog, I don’t want to be like the squire and expect something way off course, or do it for the wrong reason. Nor do I want to expect too much from myself that it becomes a great pressure for me to produce great works of literature (HA!) each time I post. So here I am committing myself to the following set of “blogtations” (that’s short for blog expectations :):

1) I do not have to be a “perfect blogger” (by definition, in case you were wondering, that means blogging everyday with meaningful, humorous or earth-shattering posts).

2) I do not expect a single solitary soul to take time to read my blog.

3) I do not expect anyone to agree with me or understand me or like me because of my blog.

4) I do not expect anything but a feel-good feeling from within that I’m doing what I feel like I should do.

That being said, I have one final issue to raise. . . .Part of the problem with blogging is that you are not talking to anyone while talking to everyone. You just don't know who is listening :). And while I'm fine with that concept because it means that no one has to listen to me who doesn't want to, I will from time to time ask for your thoughts, experiences or opinions . . . and I truly want to hear them because they strengthen me and make me think more deeply. So please, if you feel so inclined, share your stories with me too.

So welcome to my blog. . . .maybe you’ll come back, maybe you won’t. Here you’ll come across tidbits about me and my family; a few of my musings, links to talks I’ve enjoyed and those words that I feel need a place somewhere in blogland. Thanks for stopping by.