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{"id":4812,"date":"2012-09-26T00:26:52","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T00:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/karenspearszacharias\/?p=4812"},"modified":"2012-09-30T05:55:35","modified_gmt":"2012-09-30T05:55:35","slug":"adventure-of-dragon-slaying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/karenspearszacharias\/2012\/09\/26\/adventure-of-dragon-slaying\/","title":{"rendered":"Adventures of Dragon-Slaying"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>It\u2019s been a very long time since I have felt this rejected.<\/p>\n

Perhaps even as far back as high school. Or maybe it was that day in college when my roommate announced before God and a roomful of others that she hated that her parents\u2019 taxes helped me get through college. (I went on my father\u2019s GI Bill, given that he was dead and wasn\u2019t going to be using it.) Yes. That was definitely a new personal low. I was so humiliated I was rendered speechless and you all know how rare that is for me.<\/p>\n

They say that after a woman reaches a certain age she quits caring what other people think of her. For most of the women I know that\u2019s somewhere between menopause and senility. I definitely fall into that age bracket so, technically, I should care less, not more, but I never did follow the trend, not in my whole entire life.<\/p>\n

Ever since I have known me, I\u2019ve taken the path that wasn\u2019t even a path. I don\u2019t follow. I don\u2019t lead. I just walk head down through prickly grass into strong winds.\u00a0I\u2019ll admit it can be tiring as all get out. And lonely. That is the thing I hate the most. How lonely it can be to not follow the crowd and not to have the crowd follow you.\u00a0But as someone once told me, dragon-slayers do not travel in packs. They go it alone.<\/p>\n

Not that I am ever really alone. I\u2019m not. I know that for sure. But sometimes, it can seem that way and this week in particular it feels that way.<\/p>\n

I mean what is a woman like me supposed to do when she wakes up and learns she did not make it into the list of the Top 200 Most Influential<\/a> Churchy Bloggers? Not that I stood a whore-at-a-revival chance of making that list, mind you. Only a few women did. Still, I write for an evangelical blog. You\u2019d think I might have placed somewhere in the bottom 190s. But then slap-me-sideways, Ann Voskamp<\/a>, who has more followers than Mitt Romney didn\u2019t make the list either.\u00a0 Timothy Dalrymple takes a jab<\/a> at explaining the convoluted analysis that went into compiling that list.<\/p>\n

And if all that wasn\u2019t bad enough news, I learned that I was left off the list for\u00a0 Christianity Today\u2019s 50 Women to Watch<\/a> issue.<\/p>\n

Others places I\u2019ve been overlooked include:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Vogue\u2019s Best Dressed<\/p>\n

\u2013 New York Times Bestsellers<\/p>\n

\u2013 Most Influential Women In TV list (Altho, Honey Boo Boo made the cut<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u2013 AdAge Women Who Lead\u00a0 List\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Forbes Most Powerful Women\u00a0<\/a>
\nIt\u2019s unending, really, the number of lists I have not made, and me, already well into mid-life.\u00a0But I didn\u2019t want to deceive you.\u00a0I don\u2019t want you thinking more highly of me than you ought to. I\u2019m not a person of influence.\u00a0I\u2019m nobody special. \u00a0Just an aging woman walking through prickly grass into a strong wind.<\/p>\n

You are welcome to join me, here, but just keep in mind, I have very little to offer, except little adventure tales about dragon-slaying from time to time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"