I belong to a Memoir Writing group and our topic was A FAVORITE QUOTE.  I had also written my blog, STATISTICS.  I thought, “These sorta go together.”  This week you have two writings for the price of one.

Memoir Writing:  A FAVORITE QUOTE

ONE DROP OF INK

A DROP OF INK MAY MAKE A MILLION THINK.

George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron), English poet (1788-1824)

These words made my imagination take off.  Vision after vision popped into my head.

One drop of ink.  Another drop of ink. ……………….

And on and on, until each signer picked up the pen and signed their name.  The Declaration of Independence was written.

A sharp.  A cleft.  A whole.  A half.  A quarter.  Each note working with the note before it and the note after it.  Handel’s Messiah was written.

The sound of jazz and an album needing an illustration caused David Stone Martin to put pen and ink to work.  His art decorated more than 100 album covers.

What started as a drop of ink on a napkin became, overall, the best-selling book series.  The Harry Potter series has sold more than 500 million books worldwide.

Sign and date require a drop of ink.  And, just like that, millions of people are married. They become licensed drivers.  They can have a credit card.  They are dismissed from the hospital.  And they sign papers that they wish would not require their signature. 

Times change.  Today, an almost seventy-nine-year-old, gray-haired woman, in a small rural town, puts fingers to a keyboard and, without one drop of ink, wishes she made a million people think. 

 STATISTICS

I write because I feel the need to put words on paper.  When I started the blog, I said that if my words helped one person, it was worth the effort.  For a long time, I did not check the statistics.  I didn’t want the number of people reading or not reading to influence my writing.  BUT, occasionally, I do check.  I am often amazed and honored by the number of people who view my blog.  During the last 30 days, my blog was viewed 2,420 times.

What really amazes me is where the readers are located.  During the last 30 days, the blog was viewed 2,700 times in the USA, 846 times in Hong Kong, and 595 times in Singapore.  These are all countries you have heard of.  When I went to the bottom of the list, one person from Naura had read my blog.  Naura?  Never fear, Google to the rescue.  Naura is a small island in the southeastern Micronesia, 25 miles south of the Equator.  By land mass, it is the third smallest country in the world.  They can collect rainwater, but, there are no streams, so they have to import water.

How did this one person find my blog?  Were they bored and spent time scrolling?  Did it appear in their feed? (To the one person, from Naura, who reads my blog, how did you find it?  Thank you for reading it.)

Google also said that four-fifths, of the islanders, are Christian.  How did they find out about Jesus? 

(Paul speaking) And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

1 Thessalonians 2:13

Four-fifths of the people are Christian.  Who was their “Paul”?  Who found this tiny island, stepped off the boat, and said, “I want to tell you that God loves you.  I want to tell you about his Son dying on the Cross so your sins are forgiven.  I want to tell you about grace and mercy and joy.” 

Who was your Paul?  Who told you about the sacrifice Jesus made?