A Cynical Confession

I had a bout with cynicism today. It won, so I wrote a blog about it. It’s not this entry though. After writing it, I read over it quickly and realized that it was not the type of writing I really wanted to do. I’m not sure that it shared any sort of life or hope or joy or peace or anything worth writing about, really. For the moment, I’d rather stay away.

This was a hard thing for me to do. I think I got too wrapped up in the cleverness of the idea and convinced myself that it was ok to be snarky, just this once. Surely, this entry wouldn’t tip the scales of the internet too far in the sarcastic category.

One of my favorite professors tells his students that if all you can say about your sermon is that it was clever, then you’ve failed. I suppose in that case you can always try again next week. Or not. If a pastor only ever preaches sermons because of cleverness, a congregation would probably be better off if they never tried to preach again.

I don’t think blogging is the same as preaching. For one thing, I’m not basing this entry off of a scripture. For another, I think the internet was made for blatant sarcasm - I just want to be in a good place when I’m delivering it.

So, I have saved tonight’s entry on my hard drive. Maybe I’ll publish it in a few weeks. I mean, it was pretty funny - at least I thought so. It was quite clever - I smirked the whole time. Tonight, though, I feel like that’s all it was. I don’t want to be that guy.

Maybe this means I really won the bout with cynicism. I’m not sure. At least I know that when I shut my eyes tonight, I won’t wake with offended messages on Facebook waiting for me. And, for now, I say that’s winning. Come at me again tomorrow, snark. I may let you win the next round.