My Writing God’s Handiwork? By Alan Anderson

^“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2: 8-10)?

The passage of the Bible I have included in this blog is a memorial as to my motivation to write. As one of His children I am part of God’s handiwork, His masterpiece!  Wow!  I can rejoice in this and carry on with the unfolding of my life.  It was not always so!

For much of my younger years I was a closet writer.  My memories of whatever I wrote are surrounded by the mystery of what was going on in my mind.  As a young guy in high school I wanted to write.  My insecurity and shyness as a person was reflected in my writing.  I was not very comfortable around people.  My stories and poems were also shy and wanted to be alone.  It didn’t matter what I wrote it would never see the light of day.  My early writing projects were for my eyes only.  My fear of the world caused me to toss whatever I wrote.  No one else would be interested! No one else would understand! It was just me and my words!

My childhood was often one of insecurity, fear and childhood imagination.  It wasn’t completely devoid of fun and some good family memories however.  I enjoyed time playing with my siblings and cousins now and again.  I was for the most part, however, a loner content to make my own world and not become too involved in the one around me.

Stories like Daniel Dafoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island were wonderful!  They opened my imagination to what my eyes observed about life.  Their stories allowed my heart to feel the longing to be heard and to let others into my inner world.  I could imagine myself on an island building my own abode among palm trees and swimming in a warm ocean.  I could pretend I was an innkeeper visited by pirates and sailing away with them around the world.  I would always have to come back to reality and make my way through a world of strangers.

By nature we are all strangers!  God sees a bunch of strangers and by His grace, His free favour; He makes us children of God.  We are His kids!  That calls for another wow!

I love writers but I know this does not make me a writer!  On the other hand, words have been my friends and companions since I can remember.  They are my memories!  They are expressions of my life!

As a writer who once lived in a closet so to speak, I have come to realize that I am also an expression of God’s gracious handiwork!  As a somewhat older guy now I still have a passion to write.  I am no longer afraid to allow others to see my writing. I know that my writing moves some readers.  That is so amazing and humbling!

I write stories of human frailties based on the realities of life and the place of unexpected hope.  I guess it might be said I resonate with frailties because I know myself so well.  I guess it could also be said I relate to unexpected hope because I never expected it in my life!  That calls for yet another wow!

Personal Blog: scarredjoy@wordpress.com