My first post, ten years ago today, was three words long: message+motive=meaning.
Nobody commented, of course. Nobody even noticed. But I staked my claim on this idea—we are responsible for what we say. And we are responsible for why we say it.
Ten years later I still try to keep that in mind.
Lots of thing have happened in those ten years. My parents have died. Three of my children have married. I was ordained. I wrote a lot of blog posts.
Based on data provided by WordPress, I’ve posted 399 times in the last five years, about six times a month. And I’ve had almost 55,000 page views, over 10,000 a year. That’s about 180 page views per post.
Thank you.
I know that not everyone who looks at a page reads the page, of course. But it is a humbling number, one that reflects both unexpected guests and faithful readers.
Here are some top five lists:
Top five search terms
These are terms people entered in google or other search engines and found my blog. (I’ve not included daysman or Wally Metts.) I have linked the term to the blog post they were most likely to find. The number in parenthesis is the number of times readers searched for that term.
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Wedding homily (77)
Christian birthday wishes (71)
Social exchange theory (64)
Happy birthday princess (32)
How to be a fake Christian (30)
Top five commenters
Here I am using their screen name and linking to their own blog, if possible. The top two commenters are people I have never met. One of them is Muslim.
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Manoah’s wife
Hanna
Tom Ball
terimone
Linda
Top five most viewed
Some of the items here were viewed when “I’m not buying it” was highlighted on the WordPress “freshly pressed” list. “So here’s to Katie” was my most recent blog post at the time. I’m glad a lot of people read about her.
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i’m not buying it (7,525)
men will be boys (699)
three birthday wishes for Christian (676)
girls just want to have fun (665)
so here’s to Katie (660)
Top five most commented
Bloggers like to be read, but they really like to be commented on. Here are some things people wanted to talk about. The number includes my responses, if any.
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i’m not buying it (108)
men will be boys (34)
so here’s to Katie (29)
how to survive being “freshly pressed” (22)
the perfect t-shirt (21)
In the next few days I will be re-posting some of my favorite posts, one from each year of the daysman. And in the next few months some collections of posts on different themes will be published as trade books. There are largely based on my favorite series, about my mother’s death, about college students today and their career prospects, and about being a married man.
In the next few years? God knows. But by His grace there is more to come.
And about that motive, to which I alluded ten years ago?
It’s to develop my craft so I can serve my readers and glorify my father, as a good steward of my gifts and calling.
the daysman 
Congratulations on 10 years! May you have another ten and may they be equally blessed. I am grateful that you were “Freshly Pressed” because that is where I discovered your blog. It remains one where I faithfully read each post. Blessings to you and Katie.
It is a pleasure to read your work, Wally. I am often instructed, usually uplifted, and always intrigued. You represent your Father well. Both of them. Keep the victory!
Congratulations, Wally! You are an inspiration to us all (especially us writers!). My first writing lessons came from you and I’m grateful to you for getting me started on the right foot:) God bless! Kelly Skarritt-Williams
Congrats on a decade of winsome communication stewardship! Your posts are always inspiring, relatable and well worth SHARING. . . especially the ones on the “night of blessing” . . . i’ve connected an associate pastor at my church to your posts on this topic, and he agrees that it is an event that needs to be offered to engaged men here.
God’s choicest blessings on your next decade of blogging! 🙂
Linda