My
blog traffic fell off significantly in April and May, and I couldn’t figure out
what happened. When I googled for “decreased blog traffic in April and May,” I
learned I was in the company of many other bloggers suffering from the same
thing.
It’s
called Google Panda Update.
 |
| A sleeping Panda we visited at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. My recent Panda visitor was certainly not sleeping. |
Being
the technological Neanderthal that I am, I didn’t even know there was such a
thing. It turns out I’d survived several other updates unscathed, but let me
tell you, this time the Panda almost swiped me off my feet with his huge
paw.
Speaking
of off my feet--I discovered the Panda had visited right after I tripped on my
computer cord and fell face first on the floor yesterday. Besides my aching
knees, my head is now spinning from reading about Search Engine Optimization
and how to make the Panda effect go away.
Where
did I put that typewriter?
I’m
trying to educate myself and learn from those who know boatloads more than I do
about such things. It didn’t help to read this morning that after a certain age,
brainpower could drop by fifty percent.
I
have to be honest and say that after two years of working hard here at One
Ringing Bell, it can be discouraging.
What
do you do when the harder you work, the more behind you get?
“Though
the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the
olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in
the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be
joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:17-18).
Eugene
Peterson puts it this way in The Message, “Though the cherry trees don’t
blossom and the strawberries don’t ripen, though the apples are worm-eaten and
the wheat fields stunted, though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle
barns empty, I’m singing joyful praise to God. I’m turning cartwheels of joy to
my Savior God.”
Peterson
goes on to translate verse 19 this way, “Counting on God’s Rule to prevail, I
take heart and gain strength.”
I
may have to wait for my knees to feel better to turn those cartwheels, but I
can decide right now to praise God even in the face of limping statistics.
My
sister, a lifelong educator, has prayed every summer that God would give her
the students she was supposed to have in the fall. And every fall, God did.
So,
I’m praying that I’ll have the readers I’m supposed to have. I’m praising
him for the precious ones I have right now.
Panda
or no Panda.
Feeling stronger already; I may turn that cartwheel after all.