Synchronicity

Less than twenty-four hours after I stated blogging, the January/February 2009 issue of Presbyterians Today arrived in the mail. It contained a short article by Jody Harrington entitled “Best of the blogs: Blogging 101.” Jody is an elder at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas, and past moderator of New Covenant presbytery. She writes the blog Quotidian Grace . That same day, Psalms Modern, a blog of Presbyterian Welcome, published a meditation I had earlier submitted to them. Was this a mere coincidence?

My interest in blogging, dare I say even my familiarity with it, was sparked by an article in the November 3, 2008 issue of The Presbyterian Outlook. The article quoted blogger Shawn Coons but did not give the name or location of his blog. I wanted to engage Shawn in a conversation so I initiated a search of the internet and discovered Shawn Coons Newish Blog. His links directed me to more blogs, which I also perused. I had entered the world of blogging for the first time and without realizing it apparently had become hooked.

Not long after first discovering the world of blogging the December 2, 2008 issue of The Christian Century arrived. The back cover featured information about the online magazine christiancentury.org, the blog of the Christian Century at theolog.org, and Century community of bloggers at ccblogs.org. I looked at some of the blogs at ccblogs.org and was impressed.

I sent an email to CC requesting more details about CC hosting my blog and hosting a domain name at no cost. CC responded that there had been a slight change to policy regarding hosting and domains, that CC would do this but only for established bloggers. CC suggested I start a blog at blogger or wordpress or anywhere, blog for a time, and get back to them.

After looking at both blogger and wordpress I chose blogger because it was free and I already had a Google account. I started my blog Monday evening, January 5, 2009. The following day’s mail delivery included the most recent issue of Presbyterians Today which ran the article about blogging. That same day Psalms Modern, a blog of Presbyterian Welcome, published a meditation I had earlier submitted to them.

The article in PT is the first in an ongoing column promising to “highlight blogs of particular interest to readers of Presbyterian Today.” This leaves me wondering if my blog will earn being mentioned. Maybe grace will prevail and it will be mentioned even if it does not deserve to be.

Was it coincidence that within the time frame of a month I read about and discovered Shawn Coons Newish Blog, started reading other blogs, saw the back cover of CC about blogs, started my own blog, received the most recent issue of PT with the first article in a new column about blogging, and had a meditation published on another blog?

Generally speaking, I am a Jungian. I am also an Intuitive on the MBTI. I see connections others do not normally see and invent them were there are none. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and sometimes, well. There are coincidences and there are coincidences. When the same word, symbol, sign, emotion, or thought seems to be manifesting itself in numerous and generally unrelated events and mediums, pay attention! You might end up starting a blog.