If you have nothing to say...

...then say it.

I don't recall who said that, but today it has been on my mind. Having recently become a blogger, and spending not a little time surfing around on other peoples blogs, I decided to take some soundings and advice about what I could usefully blog about. Opinion is quite mixed on the merits of blogging, and I have been quite surprised in how much my opinion has changed in recent days.

Firstly, I was set against this concept of the modern media and, what I perceived at least, the need to be out there and telling your story. Like anyone really wants to know. This is a reflection of my own self-centredness. What I suppose I meant was I don't want to know. You know, it's really very interesting, what people write about. Secondly, the quality of blogs is very varied. Very varied indeed. Whether you think they are interesting, stimulating, boring, dull or just plain daft, they are people's stories and that makes them interesting.

One person said, to me, something like, never has so little been said by so many, and he is correct. There is, on the surface, a lot to get through. Many, many blogs and thousands upon thousands of words; more than you might imagine. I have to confess that I have spent far too much time reading blogs of late. Already I am starting to be quite fast to form an opinion that reading this or that is not a productive use of my time. What is productive time, though? And who gets to make the qualitative judgment?

Here our core values begin to kick in. For me, at least, that is a measure against which I judge my life to be useful or not. Asking myself the very simple question: Is this building the Kingdom of God? If yes, then carry on, but if no, then do something that is. You are either building or you are not.

Pope Benedict tells us to tell our stories, to share our values, and this is the proclamation of the Kingdom. This is building. The third mystery of light (as introduced by his predecessor) allies building with repentance. I am so very much looking forward to Lent for all sorts of reasons. Lent is a great time to take some space, to pray and to prepare for the coming of the Resurrection. This Lent I plan to do all three of these things. Do you? I wonder, what will you be doing for Lent this year?

Now, the logic of my opening statement is, of course, say nothing. To quote Ronan Keating, "you say it best, when you say nothing at all." Be still and let the Lord talk.