HEE-HAW!

My writers support group explored inspiration last month, and we took a look at why we write. The meeting was…inspiring! So why haven’t I written much since then?

Well, I think sometimes I need something more specific to motivate me. I’ve been praying for God’s direction in my life for my writing. And I believe He is sending some answers.

A few days ago, my sister and I met with Nancy McHarness who founded Partners for Schools in our local school district. She told us about the “Be the One” mentoring program she launched last year in the high school and middle school.

When she presented the opportunity to assist in a writing capacity, I felt my heart respond in a way that I haven’t experienced in a long time.

I don’t know the details of how God will move in this response yet but I am continuing to search His heart. As we all know, searching God’s heart requires reading His words, His Word.

My daily reading is taking me through Deuteronomy. Plod, plod, plod through Duty-ronomy, right? Still, I’m seeing God’s heart is there.

“If you see your neighbor’s ox or sheep or goat wandering away, don’t ignore your responsibility.

Take it back to its owner. If its owner does not live nearby or you don’t know who the owner is, take it to your place and keep it until the owner comes looking for it. Then you must return it. Do the same if you find your neighbor’s donkey, clothing, or anything else your neighbor loses. Don’t ignore your responsibility. If you see that your neighbor’s donkey or ox has collapsed on the road, do not look the other way. Go and help your neighbor get it back on its feet!” (Deuteronomy 22:1-4 NLT)

Okay, I’m a farmer’s daughter but it wasn’t a donkey on the side of the road that hee-hawed to get my attention. What grabbed me is a concept.

“Don’t ignore your responsibility.”

My responsibility in and with my writing is to help return something lost, to give something back to my community. The ramifications of that can be minimal, or they can be monumental. Either way, my writing matters. Our writing matters. For me, seeing HOW it might matter is a huge boost of encouragement to engage my mind and my fingers in releasing what God has put in my heart.

I am eagerly waiting for the next steps. I’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, here are some of the reasons I came up with for why I write, from the silly to the serious:

• The voices! The voices! The voices!
• Something has to go between the beginning of the sentence and the period.
• Someone has to keep the alphabet alive.
• In order to keep my keyboard happy.
• Because the words won’t put themselves on the page.
• I might be able to express a thought just a little differently than everyone else.
• It’s my nature to encourage with words.
• There are stories only I can tell.
• Worlds are like chisels used to expose reality.

Buy My Stuff?

The Lord has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts. He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver, and bronze. He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is a master at every craft.

Exodus 35:31-33 (NLT)

Something said in a sermon on a recent Sunday, regarding how God shows his delight in us by giving us certain abilities, reminded me of a discussion with my friend a few months ago. We were participating in a Bible study and one of the lessons focused on contentment. April addressed a concern. She makes jewelry, lovely pieces that are more like wearable art. And she sells her jewelry with hopes of making a good income on it. Her question was, “If we’re supposed to be content with what we already have, and not be all about getting more stuff, how do we justify making products for people to buy? And is it wrong for us to want people to want our stuff?”

A paragraph in the study says:

“A study of godly contentment is not a survey of how to get along with less or how to live more simply. It has nothing to do with quelling your ambition. In fact, it’s the exact opposite of all those things. Contentment is all about how to live more abundantly in Christ. How to go deeper into the great things of God. How to press on with holy passion and to take hold with both hands of all that God has for you.” (Lord, Change My Attitude, James MacDonald, Barb Peil)

I read that to April and suggested to her that God has gifted her with the desire, skill, creativity, time, etc, to make beautiful jewelry. Using these gifts from God is pursuing with holy passion all that God has for her. Her motivation is to be all that God designed her to be. She is not responsible for what motivates people to purchase her pieces.

Someone has to make money in order to use that money for good. If we follow the instructions in James to work “as unto the Lord”, making a profit is a righteous endeavor. And another scripture tells us whatever our hands find to do, do it heartily. It’s all about what our attitude is regarding money and “stuff” and what it’s for. Raking in the money and then rolling in it is not where our happiness is produced. When a profit is made we give the glory to God for He has both created and blessed our hands to do so.

I’m delighted to wear April Shelley Jewelry myself. Here are some pieces she created just for me:

I’ll be wearing them at my daughter’s wedding in just a few weeks. Thank you, April!

Want to see more? April welcomes your browsing here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AprilShelley143

https://www.facebook.com/AprilShelleyJewelry?ref=hl

Stolen Identity?

Spotlight over here, please. Right here, down at the bottom of this chapter. Yep, that’s what I thought it said. I’ve read it, oh, who knows, a hundred times? Today it applies to my thoughts about where I find my worth. I’m talking about verses 22 and 23 in the third chapter of the book of First Corinthians.

Paul was writing to his friends in Corinth. They seemed to be all in a dither. One bunch was saying, “Hey, we’re buds with Paul. He’s our man.” Another clique said, “We cheer for Apollos so we are all that!” I’m not into sports but it sort of sounds like what goes on in ‘discussions’ amongst fans of ball teams. Which makes me roll my eyes. Until I look at how I’ve done it myself.

Yes, I admit it. I’ve been there, done that. With ‘church’ people. To my chagrin and pain. The trouble with lining myself up with another human being is that he or she is just that, another human being. As trustworthy as many are and can be, and I’m thankful for that, I’m learning that my ultimate trust for my own worth is to be in God. For me, seemingly faithful relationships crumbled and the fallible failed when I had different preferences in where I chose to worship the Lord. And by the level of my devastation over betrayal and loss, I realized I’d put my reliance on people for my own identity.

The phrase that spotlight picked out this morning (from the New Living Translation) is “Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” It accentuates the concept I’ve mused on for the past few years, that I belong to me. My thoughts, my preferences, my feelings, my choices, my central identity. It’s my responsibility that I don’t give anyone else charge over that. Except for, if I read the rest of that verse, Christ, who belongs to God. Who, by the way, according to what I’ve read in His word, is my Creator and thus calls all the shots. But anyone else who tries to take over is trying to steal from God. Not that they can, because, you know, God being God, I don’t think anyone can actually steal from Him. And I can’t lose my identity when I find it in Him no matter what opinions others have about me.

That being said, words of affirmation are still like music to my ears! J It’s a song I like to sing to you too.