A Very Small Stage

Dear Footnotes Readers,

Unofficially and unannounced and unexplained, I took the month of July off from writing a weekly blog. I understand that a lot of blog writers take off all or part of the summer. I failed to announce a break and I apologize for not letting you know.

In the meantime, I have been putting together an ebook, editing a memoir manuscript that is starting to grow fur like the fungus on mushrooms, and gone back and forth to our little cabin in the woods of Southeastern Colorado, with a grandson’s wedding in-between. Miles and smiles and more than a few dilemmas, as even in summer, daily life presents its own complications.

I have missed you. Whoever and wherever you are, thank you for giving me your attention. I hope to reconnect on a regular basis because writing a blog is for me like writing a letter. I can imagine recipients on the other end of this communication opening email and clicking to read the latest on Footnotes. There is nothing in the world like personal correspondence––the handwriting, the signature and the thoughts that someone took time and cared enough to write.

When my husband read to me that there are now 600 million blogs, I about fainted. I had to Google it. Yep. 600 million blogs. In my black-and-white thinking, my reaction was to question whether I should lower that number by one.

Many bloggers I read have now moved to Substack where readers subscribe to receive their blogs, paying a monthly fee. Others use Google’s Blogspot, which is where I started in 2009. I moved to my own website in 2015 when I learned that Google owns the content of bloggers on its site. Because I value my “intellectual property,” created written content and photography, I maintain a personal website. Therefore, I’m the producer, the director, the writer and the actor on the Footnotes2Stories stage. A very small stage indeed!

Beyond what I write, I also care about my readers. You matter to me. And if it were possible to have face-to-face conversation with you on a regular basis, I would choose that. Yet schedules, time and distance between us make even phone calls rare. There’s a mailing address on my website should you wish to write me a personal letter. It would thrill me to find a card, a note or a letter in my P.O. box, which I maintain solely for this website.

Bible Footnotes

I want to leave you some other numbers to consider. According to the American Bible Society statistics for 2022, 26 million people mostly or completely stopped reading the Bible. The lead researcher said, “What we discovered was startling, disheartening, and disruptive.”

“Cut yourself off from the source of your life and eventually it’s impossible to fake your life.”

Ann Voskamp

A couple of days ago, I finished reading the book of Joshua and have started into the book of Judges. It seems to me the parallels in Israel’s history and America’s contemporary culture are staggering.

What struck me at the conclusion of Joshua is “Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel.” 24:31

That tells us two things. One, the leaders make the difference and these persons shape the trajectory of the future for a nation’s people. Two, the people who experience God’s blessing and protection can get too comfortable and forget to pass on the lessons of their nation’s history and disconnect from how the Bible relates to all human history.

The people had gathered for Joshua’s final address and pledged themselves to serve the LORD, acknowledging that He had protected them and given them everything they gained after entering the promised land.

Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

Joshua 21:45

But then, there’s always a “but” when it comes to people, Joshua knows and tells the hearers of his words they won’t be able to keep their promises to God unless they yield their hearts to Him, not simply say the words.

Joshua made a covenant at Shechem and set up a stone.

This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.

Joshua 24:27

A stone that hears? A stone that serves as a witness?

Couldn’t help but think about the tearing down of America’s monuments and the history these represent.

When my husband and I visited Belarus after the Berlin wall came down and the Soviet Union broke into separate countries, there were monuments everywhere! Why? Because the people who had lived through the wars, who had experienced history, didn’t want to forget! People continued to place flowers at the base of monuments throughout the capital city Minsk and in surrounding towns and cities, too.

Their message: Keep the memories fresh!