Litany of Humility

Starting a sewing blog has taught me many lessons - technical things about sewing and technology and photography to state the obvious. What I didn't expect was to learn so much about myself.

I began this blog because I wanted to join into the online sewing community that was inspiring me and teaching me things daily. I started following a couple dozen blogs, studying tutorials, buying some patterns... I learned a lot and knew I had something to contribute too that might help someone else out and, dare I say, inspire someone else.

The good about blogging:

1. Awesome community to be a part of - so much wisdom, help, inspiration...
2. Explosion of creativity - like to the point of dreaming about sewing ideas.
3. Motivation to finish projects, sometimes with deadlines to enter contests, sew-alongs, or linky parties.
4. Affirmation - it's always nice to hear that someone likes what you did. Very cool when they choose to follow you in some way and want to see more.
5. Definite increase in confidence with sewing skills and technology.

Ah, but like with anything, there is another side.

The dark side of blogging:

1. Finding out just how much other's opinions matter to me- not getting the comments you hoped for hurts.
2. Focusing too much on sewing - and not enough on the garden, the house, dinner, exercise, prayer and oh, you know, relationships with real live people.
3. It brings out the competitive beast in me - Let's just say I will no longer participate in sew-along contests where you have to campaign for votes. I'm not a fan of popularity contests and with my small list of Facebook friends and even fewer blog followers, it's not a good scenario. 
4. The self-doubt. Oh the self-doubt can creep in so fast. If I like my project enough to post it and I see lots of pageviews, but no comments - what does that mean? 

So when I start to focus too much on wondering what others think of my work, I have to pull out an old Catholic prayer called the Litany of Humility. 

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

This prayer is attributed to Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930),

Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X

If you find this prayer helpful, there is a beautiful free printable version here at How to Nest for Less. It is the image at the top of this post and prints at 8x11.

There has been A LOT of sewing this week - not a lot of success, and very little documenting because Elena is sick with a cold and  high fevers and I'm preparing to take Olivia to volleyball championships out of town this weekend. Too much life happening - I won't say getting in the way. My first priority is to my family. Blogging is supposed to be fun, right?

Have a wonderful weekend full of love, and time with special people, and maybe just a little sewing.