the gift of sharing

a note on sharing

what do you share?

we share our lives with our family & friends

we share our love with special people who warm our hearts

we share our homes with people we care deeply for

we share our thoughts & wishes

we share our skills in our work place & in our homes

we share our gifts .... or do we?

way back last advent....
 ann our director of Wellspring spoke 

about the 3 wise men & their journey

a journey that for certain had many physical obstacles

those wise men carried gifts

gifts for a king

a king sent to save us all

sent to share his love
to share his word
to share his life

perfect model for all of mankind

got me thinking then & i keep revisiting about

how i share my 'gifts'

been reflecting on what my gifts are?
i am an artist, a maker & a teacher
i naturally want to share ideas

 ann made the point

that if we ALL actually 'shared' our gifts
instead of hoarding them for 'some day'

(when is 'some day'??)

the peace that we all search for would
'be'

God asks us ...

to share

to act justly

to love mercy

to walk humbly

Micah 6:8

in our 'humanness' we all find it hard to share
sharing means that we have to take a risk

we find ourselves overwhelmed with timetabled commitments

 with loyalties, we protect our individuality, we hoard
... or simply we are fearful

fear is such a powerful matter of the mind

that can cripple us from our path

now .... i'm going to
share
my thoughts about:

sharing & blogging

might be a touchy subject ..... 

so be warned or simply ... do not read on!

when you are a blogger you are naturally sharing

...sharing ideas or feelings or thoughts

its personal
(but its my blog so i can essentially blog what i like!)

i will often write in comments i leave for other bloggers
"thanks for sharing" .... as i appreciate what it takes to actually share!

when the un-spoken rules of blogging etiquette are ignored

its hard to take

hard because you've shared yourself

& then the response has not been
just
or humble
or respectful

in all of history there has never & never will be a vacuum of ideas

the history
of architecture

of art

of food 

of farming

of dance

of music

of literature
of science
of story telling

every single creative mind has been
influenced

so of course if you read a lot of blogs

then you to will be influenced & inspired

it kind of ...
is the point
!!

but the very personal element of this is ...

really the ideas of someone
albeit on their blog

are that person's intellectual property

so no one should really be
pinching ideas

the nature of blogging as an absolute has
no vacuum!
on one hand if you do not wish for your ideas to be 'pinched'
then simply don't blog about them
but what if they are purchased items?
when the detail has not been disclosed via multi-media?
what if as an original idea no-one 'owns' the copyright
but the way you've made something is uniquely yours as far as you know it to be?

so when we are influenced
 ... we pinch ideas or 'elements of'

it can't be helped in one sense

its why the www works

information & ideas spread quickly

nothing is original 

i've made plenty of things that have in no way

been my original idea

but as you may have read ....

i am proud of how i tweak it my way

so people ....
work on making it your way

& not directly or indirectly copying it
copying with no credit is not polite, its stealing, especially for gain
copying for no profit with no credit is still not polite
copying with permission & credit is the way to go
or simply make it completely different

i share from time to time

'how-to-make' stuff

often, none are my ideas essentially

but you know .... they've been given my wendy-tweak

so that makes them original right? ... or does it?
kind of yes but not
so i don't hold the 'rights' to them
yet does anyone?
grey area hey!

so 'share' people with full grace

share your ideas where appropriate
task risks
that way we'll all 'feel the love' ....
& the rebounds of sharing will be abundant!

if you'd like to make a comment on this subject you are most welcome

i may or may not choose to publish your words
if you have been a sharing blogger you too may have
found that sometimes sharing can backfire & be hurtful
perhaps even hurtful enough to not wish to share or blog-on?
not by anything you have done but from the actions of others
let me know how you handled it

if what i've had to say
'hits home'
 in some way

consider it, reflect on it ....

 i have considered these words long & hard
i hope that they will be understood as they are intended

so how will you use the gift you can give?

the gift of sharing?
take that risk
believe that the rewards will be great indeed
for if no one were to share
this world would be a very sad place indeed!