Second Branches
The title of this blog was chosen for several
reasons, the most immediate being due to my taking up blogging as a discipline
for the second time. But as soon as the
name suggested itself several overtones folded in quickly on top of the
first. Here are many variants:
1.
A second time
through, as in repeating something but with a fresh approach
2.
A second
chance, as in forgiveness and repentance following sin, or even outright
failure.
3.
A second, as in
the 60th part of a minute
4.
Second born
traits – I’m a second born, and that has surprising explanatory power
5.
To second, meaning
to speak up in support for a motion
6.
Seconds, as in
going back for more after the first helping of yummy food has been devoured
Each carries a theme near and dear to me, with second-born
traits being the most elusive, intriguing, and downright frustrating, even for
myself. But within and between these
variations the theme of gratitude moves freely, giving them a profound and
cheerful hue.
It’s that first one that stirs in me today. More than a week has passed since my last
entry. The significance of this strikes
at my motivations for starting up, for a second time, blog writing. In its first iteration, blogging served as a
way to shift my focus to a more outward direction. Blog entries brought the potential that
others would see my thoughts.
Consequently I had to be clearer, more concise, and consider what
readers would be willing to read.
One key that moved me into actual practice was having
the achievable goal of one entry per month.
This was commitment enough to be meaningful, yet attainable with a
healthy margin for error. After years of
doing it my perspective did, in fact, shift, as did my thought patterns. Toward the end I found myself writing more
poems, and what finally took it out of me was a series of 5 sonnets. The theme and structure required a great deal
of work and rework, write and rewrite, and settling time in between. That taxed my abilities at crafting words,
and by that time I had said pretty much everything I needed to say. So ended Blog Phase 1.
Last year I found myself in one of life’s quandaries
wishing for better facility with voicing my interests. I then remembered that regular writing, as
with Phase 1, kept me better positioned to use words. That’s when I decided to launch Phase 2, but
it was not enough simply to re-do Phase 1.
This time around I wanted a shift to a less autobiographical
effort. I had already said what needed
to be said as autobiography. So here I
am in a second iteration of blogging in a modified approach.
And the part of reality that enters here is that the
only true first is the actual first; everything after turns out to be a
second. Here in this broken world of
broken people and things, taking any first step is a nearly heroic action. But the second time is both a repeat and a new
first. It’s the first step of growth,
and each subsequent step is like a second second. In all creation, therefore, only God is
first, with all good things secondary. “I
am the Vine, you are the branches.”
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