I have finally made it to 100 posts on the Pensive Warrior, and it is a fitting time for the occasion. I wonder if it is just a coincidence this milestone was met with the new year just around the corner. I always seem to be finishing or starting something big just as the year comes to an end. Perhaps it is only natural that a sense of finality hangs in the air come the new year, as it is a symbolic time for ends and beginnings.
I am quite pleased with how this blog has come along. I have been quite busy over the past few months and have struggled to put out content as consistently as I have before. However, that is a good thing for me, as it is always a blessing to be busy. Also, if I were not so busy, my 100th post would not have come right on the eve of the new year! And if that had not occurred, I might not have been in the right mood or mind for such a post. As such, I think things worked out just as they should’ve, and I certainly wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Earliest Days
When I first started this blog, I was an unbeliever, but also an empiricist. I did not have faith in God because He had never proven His existence to me. However, I did believe in empirical evidence; pattern recognition. I still do. Thus, I always recognized the Bible would not be something people held to be true across time and space; across cataclysms that defined separate eras where culture was disconnected from one end to the other if there was not something truthful to it. If it were untrue – nothing more than a creation of man as an unbeliever would typically assert – then it would have fallen out of favor across cultures as all man-made philosophies do that clash with objective truth. That which is true, or hints at the truth somehow, stands the test of time.
And having been familiar with Biblical theology from a young age, as well as studying the theology of other major religions to compare and contrast them, I always maintained I agreed with the teachings of the Bible since they stand up to the scrutiny of a natural-law perspective where others don’t. And even when I was an unbeliever, I maintained I wouldn’t want to live in a world filled with people who don’t believe in or follow God. Morality cannot exist a priori – meaning it cannot be deductive and thus requires a lawgiver, lest morality devolve into a matter of opinion and defeat the purpose of its existence. Thus, a world where belief in a lawgiver such as God is lacking – a world of unbelief – invariably becomes a world characterized by a ruthless disregard for all that is good. History shows this play out time and time again in a neverending repeat of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (e.g., Ancient Persia, Ancient Rome, Revolutionary France, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Communist China, etc.).
With my background in psychology, I understand the concept of socialization. That is, people learn and acquire behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs from those they socialize with. We model ourselves after the models we surround ourselves with, or are surrounded by. In wanting to ensure I socialized others around me to be and do something valuable with the talents they possess, I sought to use my talent for writing to create something both enjoyable and valuable for others pro bono. That way, through no expectation of anything in return, I might give something out to the world worth giving. Somewhere along the way, I discovered my faith in God after delving deeper into His Word and establishing a relationship with Him. Since then, my desire to give something worthwhile to the world with the gift of writing God gave me has only grown. To that end, I have no plans to cease.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Moving forward, I do expect my writing career to get even busier. Nevertheless, I do still plan to post here indefinitely and as often as possible. Though, whereas I was able to post every week consistently in the past, I doubt I will be able to continue doing so without changing things a bit. I have been hesitant to post poetry regularly in the past because I do still enjoy posting articles about history, important figures, and other ideas; and I didn’t want to seem repetitive. I posted poetry often when I ran out of time because it is quick and easy to produce.
From now on, I will seek to post something once a week as intended. However, I will not be shy about posting poetry multiple weeks in a row anymore. I do want to keep original content posted regularly on this blog, and that means I will have to scale back on the articles I post here as I take on other writing responsibilities in my career. I think I shall focus more on hybrid article-poems like this blog post I wrote about the actions of John Paul Jones at the Battle of Flamborough Head. I enjoyed the style of briefly covering the events and then transitioning into a poem about them. This combined the quick turnaround of poetry-focused content with the intrigue of history and tradition.
With that said, here’s a poem I wrote contemplating the future and how we keep moving forward day by day in spite of great darkness all around us.
Every day tests our will and heart
Our will to survive and push on
And the heart's resistance to pain
We lie in longing for the dawn
What is it that drives us onward?
To reach for new heights never reached?
That urge to always be greater
And breach all those bounds not yet breached
It is the Lord our God in us
Working through us with His Spirit
To live the life we were made for
A life defying death's limit
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The Pensive Warrior 