"Remember your Audience"

One of the biggest lies a writer can ever tell you is, "I just write for myself." Trust me, this is a lie, even if the writer does not realize it. The journalist writes for the people who want to know what's going on in their world. The screenwriter and novelist write to tell a story to the world. Columnists write to make a point. The girl who writes in her diary still pays close enough attention to what she's writing just in case someone stumbles across it one day. Even as I write this blog day in and day out I do so keeping in mind those who may log on one day just to find out about some peon living in Detroit :-) I have to worry about words that might offend and, although I try to be completely honest, I still have to put my censor's cap on because if I told some of the things that really go through my mind on a daily basis you would probably be calling cops, clergy, and psychiatrists.

We live the same way, too. At work we realize our managers and customers are watching our every move. We act a certain way so that our friends won't take us the wrong way and get angry with us. We change our speech patterns and the things we joke about depending on if we're at church, at a family gathering, or the local coffee shop because each audience is going to be comfortable with a different set of conversations and language. When we go out on the town we make sure our mannerisms are attractive to the opposite sex and even if we hang on our own we still worry about the unexpected guest who might drop by. Even the "nonconformist" often lives in such a way as to get a reaction from those who think they're just too far out there.

The problem isn't that we live for an audience, although the glut of reality tv could be a sign of problems to come. The problem is that we live for the wrong audience. We worry about what friends will think of us, even though friends are supposed to love us through thick and thin. We worry about what strangers will think about us if we act a fool in public even though we'll never see those people again in our lives. We worry about our bosses getting angry, our parents getting disappointed, our loves getting hurt.

But do we ever consider our most important audience? Do we worry about the fact that most of the things we do don't glorify God on a daily basis? Do we stop and think about the fact that, even when we're alone, we're still under the watchful eye of God, from whom no one can hide? Do we realize that we are commanded to glorify God in EVERYTHING we do, even something as simple as eating and drinking?

Just some stuff I was thinking about tonight :)

C-Dubbs