We Writers by Janet Martin

We are delighted to welcome InScribe member Janet Martin as our Guest Blogger today.

Brenda invited me to share this poem in a guest-post, as an example of what I am working on; a poetry blog.

We Writers...

We writers write and bear alike the suffering of it
To breathe in ink those things we think while others simply sit
Without the quest of un-penned best, besot by phrase or form
Or restless heart where hope imparts a sweet and soundless storm

We writers scan the lowing span of new or ancient crypt  
Craving the rush of thoughts that brush, not in pigment but script
The carefree soul saunters and strolls, his thought easy to bear 
While writers thirst, both blessed and cursed by noon's word-laden air

We writers know the high and low unleashed across a page
How want and will perplex the quill and midnight is a stage
To anywhere a pen may dare to revel in the vaunt
Of oceans stirred within a word; of musing's endless taunt

We writers dream and nothing seems to be what it appears
Who knew the color blue could move a writer's smile to tears?
And who are we that poetry breathed by a blithesome breeze
can smite our hand by its command and draw us to our knees?

We writers share the glorious care of searching Heaven's Face
Where we beseech and humbly reach to touch His hem of grace
then; here and there the writer's prayer though inarticulate
enjoys the thrill of words that spill in torrents through thought's gate

When someone asks me what writing project I am working on or what my goals are, I hardly know what to say. The goal for God-fearing writers is much more than an accumulation of words to tell a story or spin a poem. We ponder, pray and pursue a passion only other writers can relate to; a passion purposed to hopefully, ultimately glorify God.

My passion is poetry and my struggle is finding its practical purpose and place in a fast-paced world. That place for now is a blog as I wait for further Instruction … to quote Peter Marshall,* ‘the Lord only knows and He hasn’t told me yet’.

However, the Lord did impress on my heart as a child, a love for poetry. I began writing poetry when I was eight or nine when, being smitten with inspiration while sitting on the barn steps, I repeated the lines until I got back to the house, then sacredly committed them to paper. Thus began a private passion, save for card-acrostics to my friends for birthdays and such.

Then, after being questioned by my son four years ago as to what my purpose for writing is when all I do is keep it in a drawer, conviction over-rode fear and I began posting on a Christian poetry-site. There a reader encouraged me to start a blog. After four years I can say I have learned there is still much I need to learn, but what a joyful, exciting journey it is.

Inscribe is a perfect example of this joy; writers encouraging writers because we need other writers as much as we need words. I thank the Lord for connections made through blogging long before I became an Inscribe member; voices such as Violet Nesdoly, Brenda Leyland and Glynis Belec.

Thus, for the time being, I am content to climb the ladder of learning to see where it will lead. And most recently it has brought me here where, as I read over and over the heart-blood spilled at Inscribe I see so much more than words from writers. I see love. Love poured from the desire to touch people, not with words but God. God is love. That is my prayer as I write and who knows where God will let the ‘seeds’ drift. It would be enough to know that, although ninety-nine didn’t care, one was helped and encouraged through Love shaped into word.

Also, my hope is that if someone out there is held back by fear, yet driven to write, maybe they will feel the love and be drawn to the possibilities that God alone will reveal as we trust Him.

  

 *From the book: A Man Called Peter written by Catherine Marshall, his wife

About Janet: I am a stay-at-home mom/day-care provider who loves to draw inspiration from family, faith and God's handiwork. I enjoy gardening, photography, cooking and anything else that involves my family. My husband James and I have been married for almost 26 years and we have four children; one married daughter who lives close by, two daughters and a son still at home. My husband is a long-haul transport truck-driver and this leaves a lot of quiet evenings which I fill with reading and writing. I blog at anotherporch.blogspot.com