With Lent now only hours away, selecting penances, sacrifices and good intentions for the season has many a Catholic blogger scrambling to discern the best way to deepen her relationship with God. I’ve already seen one person bid the blogosphere a temporary adieu, and I can certainly understand and respect that decision. Blogging takes time.

I myself toyed with that idea. But…

Virtually all of the blogs I read are Catholic. Most of them routinely address living a Catholic life in a secular world. They are inspirational, encouraging, and often challenge me to be a better Catholic mother. Reading them is like getting a daily pep talk from a good friend. In addition, I suspect that the majority of folks who stop by here on a regular basis are getting a similar inspiration and encouragement from me. I don’t want to stop offering that to others.

But again, blogging takes time. The key is to find a decent balance between blogging about life and living life. Pep talks are great, but a team can’t spend the day in the locker room. It’s got to go out and play the game.

And so I have proposed to myself a two-part compromise.

First of all, I’m not going to comment on other people’s blogs. I am not a frequent commenter anywhere, but I do try to speak up often enough to not be considered a lurker. I’ll still read the blog, but I’m going to refrain from putting in my two cents. If you have grown accustomed to an occasional pithy remark from me, don’t worry, I still love you. Perhaps you may find my comments about your blog over here on mine.

Secondly, I’m turning off comments on my blog. My husband didn’t understand how much additional time and energy goes into your comments here. For whatever reason, Blogger does not usually send me an email notification of a comment. Before I began doing comment moderation, I had no idea that someone had left a comment. And comments sometimes require comments. Someone may ask a question or say something particularly nice, and silence on my part could be perceived as rude if the person didn’t realize that I was completely clueless that they had said something. It’s like leaving a message on an answering machine and never getting a call back.

Even after I enabled comment moderation, Blogger still doesn’t email me that comments have been left. I have to manually go into the moderation page to see if anyone has commented. It’s a pain, as you might imagine. And it takes time. And it causes me to compulsively check the dashboard about every hour. If there are no comments because you can’t leave comments there will be no excuse to go and check. I can better regulate my time online and stop wondering if anyone has left me a love note.

My email address is in the sidebar. I’m not saying that I don’t want any of you wasting my time by trying to engage me in conversation! No, I don’t mind dialogue at all. Feel free to send me a note.

So, this is your last chance!! Comments will be open here until bedtime tonight. Wish me a blessed and holy Lent as I wish the same for you.