Negative Comments

     Hi All! I'm re-posting this, from Libby over at: http://anoblecallingblog.blogspot.com/ ... I'm re-posting it, because people need to read it... whether you've made bad comments or gotten bad comments before. Please read, and have a good day. :)

Today I want to say a word about negative comments. If you are a blogger, and have been for any length of time, you probably have encountered your fair share of negative comments. Today I want to share a few thoughts on those, um, lovely comments that just so happen to make friends with the trash.

I have had a number of comments that have since been unpublished and deleted, and as you can imagine with certain topics that I write about, it's bound to happen. I expect it, and to be honest, I'm completely fine with it. It's taken me a long time to be secure enough in myself and trust that God's Word is true that those comments don't bother me a whole lot anymore. In fact, it's quite nice to hit the "delete" button and then move on. People may tell me that I wouldn't receive those negative comments if I didn't write about certain things. But I remember that Jesus wasn't popular. What He preached and taught wasn't "the" thing. I choose to continue to write what He leads me to write, share what He places on my heart, and if I believe that something is Truth and is something that others might be encouraged, challenged, or inspired from reading, then I'm going to write and post it. I am not going to give the people who choose to leave negative (and sometimes downright mean, rude, hurtful, and inappropriate) comments power in my life. I have even been threatened to rewrite posts in a way that wouldn't be Truth or real or honest. People have threatened to quite reading my blog. No disrespect, but I really don't care! There are far too many sweet, like-minded friends that I have made from this whole blogging thing to allow me to be concerned whether one person quits reading my blog. If you don't like what you see, move on. There are plenty of other blogs out there for you to read. It's what I do, and others can certainly do it to.

Recently I found the following excerpt on a blog that I read occasionally. It fits perfectly with this post and I wanted to share it today....

(I don't care for some of the language used so I've "bleeped" it out, but the message, I LOVE!)

"After years of allowing people to anonymously leave snarky comments-- because 'you put yourself out there, you should be able to take it.' -- I now adhere to the same rules I have in my home: if the dog makes a mess on the carpet, I clean it up."  So that's that. I am so thankful for the 90% of comments and emails and words I receive that are life-giving and kind. To those who think I s**k, that's okay and that's your opinion. Please spend your time on something more constructive than spreading hate around the internet, though, ok? It's such a sad waste of a precious life."

In no way am I a fan of Taylor Swift. In fact, I haven't listened to her music in years, but these lyrics just seemed too perfect not to include in this post...

"Haters gonna hate, hate, hate
I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake
Shake it off"

And another song, by Little Mix, fits perfectly as well...

"Mama told me not to waste my life,
She said spread your wings my little butterfly
Don't let what they say keep you up at night
And they can't detain you
'Cause wings are made to fly
And we don't let nobody bring us down
No matter what you say – it won't hurt me
Don't matter if I fall from the sky
These wings are made to fly"

I don't mean to rant or seem like I can't be quiet about negative comments. But I wanted to share a few thoughts, as well as hopefully encourage other bloggers who know exactly what I'm talking about. I have better things to do than to waste my time reading and responding to certain comments. It's not healthy for me, and it most certainly doesn't bring anything good into my life or onto this blog.

To my fellow bloggers, keep on going! We're in this thing together! Don't let the negative comments and the people who write them gain power in your life and get to you. There is far too much good in blogging that it does outweigh the bad, but it's still there. And to those who I mentioned above, the sweet, like-minded friends, you know who you are. I SO appreciate all your encouraging comments and emails and I consider each of you dear friends, and I am so thankful that the Lord crossed our paths. You are a blessing to me and you make this blogging thing so more enjoyable and fun! And there's still lots more fun to be had!