12 of the best blog posts I read in 2007

Regular readers of this blog and my links blog know that I love sharing all the good stuff I come across in my web surfing. This week I decided to undertake the daunting task of putting together a "best of 2007" list. I'm sure I'm forgetting some excellent stuff (that I will undoubtedly remember as soon as I hit Publish), but from my limited time and even more limited memory I wanted to at least make an attempt at sharing some things I read this year that really made an impact on me. I've linked to almost all of these before here or on the links blog, but thought it might be fun to round up my favorites.

Without further ado, in and no particular order, here are 12 of the best things that were posted on blogs (or other "informal" writing venues) that I read in 2007:

1. Why I am a Christian: I don't think it's too much of an exaggeration to say that John C. Wright is our generation's Chesterton. His writing about his conversion from intellectual atheism to Christianity never ceases to amaze me, and this post is no exception. I often find myself thinking of something he says here of his experiences with Christianity: "If this is an hallucination, it more useful than sanity." (I also posted his conversion story here.)
   
   
2. Story arc: Of all the good posts at DarwinCatholic, I don't know why this stands out to be as one of my very favorites. Maybe because "Tom" reminds me of so many people I know. Maybe because "Tom" reminds me of myself sometimes. But ever since I read this I've frequently thought of just how much the human experience comes down to looking for the story arc in our lives.
   
   
3. Not "our" baby: If there is a more touching story out there of hope and trust in God in the face of extraordinary loss, I have not found it. I cry tears of both sorrow and joy every time I read Kristen's story of driving home with an empty carseat after her failed adoption, and the truths that she learned from that situation.
   
   
4. Is there anything good about men?: This transcript of a talk given by Roy F. Baumeister has kept me thinking even months after I first read it. My husband originally emailed it to me with the subject line "one of the most insightful things I've ever read".
   
   
5. Who's story is it?: This blog post introduced a question that my husband and I frequently refer to: "Is God part of your story?...Or are you part of God's story?" We realized that the way you think about these questions speaks volumes about how your relationship to God.
   
   
6. Schooling at home: I was already leaning towards homeschooling when I came across this article by Sally Thomas, and this really helped seal the deal. It's probably the best case for homeschooling I've ever read. (Her article about Homeschooling and Christian Duty is also great.)
   
   
7. How I became a Catholic: Aimee Milburn's post, which is ultimately about trusting God, is beautiful for so many reasons. She's an incredibly talented writer and manages to distill a lot of concepts into a very concise, readable, lovely post.
   
   
8. Why pray?: This one post answered so many of my questions about prayer, and left me with a phrase I refer to often, that prayer is ultimately "putting on the mind of Christ."
   
   
9. Tips for making it through the day without going insane: Though not every single suggestion here would work for me, overall I found this advice on household management from a homeschooling mom of seven to be invaluable. I printed it out and have read it many times for inspiration.
   
   
10. For a time such as this: Kim's post about remembering that, as she says, "If you are a parent, you ARE the curriculum," is one of the first things that got me thinking about trusting God in all my daily actions, however small.
    
    
11. How I became pro-life: Abigail's post is a beautiful story not just of her conversion on the issue of abortion, but of an even greater conversion of heart. It's one of those posts that leaves you with a warm feeling for a long time after you read it.
    
    
12. A Global Intelligence Briefing for CEOs: There was a lot of buzz about this article on a business school email list that my husband is on, so I printed it out and read it. It's a fascinating and (relatively) brief summary of what's going on in the world today.
    

Thanks to the authors of all these great posts. (Again, I know there are MANY that I missed.) I hope that others enjoy these as much as I did!