Every year I seem to start a new blog, usually because I'm doing something new and exciting or becasue I am so embarrased at the silliness of the previous year's posts that I want to start all over. The title never changes. It comes from Exodus 14:14, a verse that reminds me , a chronic worrier, that the Lord is taking care of me whatever my struggles may be. 

 

I write because, as O'Connor says, I do not know what I truly think until I write it down and read it. There is something about seeing my thoughts printed out in front of me that brings about the horrifying realization that I do not know what I am talking about most of the time. Writing purges at least some of the nonsense. 

 

I also write because I teach students to write. I teach them that it is important and useful, and it is a practice that I hope they maintain in the future. Words are important, healing, and powerful. Words can destroy, uplift, and effect change. If I do not write, how can I expect my students to believe that writing matters?