April 18, 2018

Writing to be Real - Gloria Guest


I think I basically write to be real. If I’m not going to be real, what’s the point? Writing is where I am at my best in expressing authenticity.
As someone who can sometimes have too quick of a tongue or be a bit too blunt in my personal conversations, I love the fact that in writing my keyboard has a delete button. Something sounds not quite right? Delete. That wasn’t said the way I intended? Delete. Start again and this time say it better.
I find that writing has far more grace for my particular  communication foibles than talking does. In my conversations I’ve had many times where I wished that I could take back a word, or two or more. With my written words, I can. Delete. It’s great. J
My personal blog is based around the theme of Hope. As someone who came from a difficult childhood and has spent my adult years recovering from it, I have found hope to be my anchor. And so in finding that hope it is my desire to share it with others. Hope is the solid cord that is found woven through all of my writing and that cord leads to the source of my hope which is God and His faithfulness.


In talking about being real I would like to add that I don’t always feel hope or even follow its light. I have dark days and times where I wonder if God cares or is listening or has forgotten all about me. I have days when I look around at the world and wonder the same thing. Is God even with us or has He just wound up the world like a giant clock and is letting it tick down?
The Chaplin of the Humboldt Bronco’s hockey team, Sean Brandow, spoke about this in his message after the tragic bus crash on a lonely Saskatchewan highway,
#Humboldt Strong
 that took sixteen lives and injured all remaining.


‘Where was God?’ he stated at the vigil. He had been on the scene and saw the twisted wreckage and the dead and wounded. He felt as if he was in the valley of the shadow of death. And he was. But then later in the week he was reminded of the other half of the verse that states, “I will fear no evil for thou art with me.” His message went around the world. He was real and that’s what drew people to want to listen. He didn’t hold back his raw emotions and his questioning of God. I believe his message drew many to God.
May my writing be as real as that Chaplin’s heart felt words were.

May I allow people more than a just a tiny glimpse into my soul and then a quick cover-up. May my writing reveal a deep gaze into who I am and where I’ve been because I don’t have to give in to fear. Sure, people will see my pain and failures but through that may they see God, piercing through the fog of my life as the light from a lighthouse searches out the waters saying, ‘This is the way. Come home.’
May it lead them home too.



Gloria shares messages of hope from the small hamlet of Caron, Sask. You can read her blog by clicking here.  

5 comments:

  1. This is honest writing, Gloria, and you are real. I think you summed this up well in your closing paragraph when you talk of exposing your true self rather than giving in to fear and hiding who you are. I appreciate and honour your statement: "Sure, people will see my pain and failures but through that may they see God, piercing through the fog of my life as the light from a lighthouse searches out the waters saying, ‘This is the way. Come home.’" Such a powerful image!

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  2. HOPE is a powerful concept and one that comes through in this piece. I love that your desire is to offer hope and to be authentic - which you certainly were here. I, too, appreciated the raw honesty of the Chaplin during his tribute. I'm sure it has touched many lives. God can use everything, including this tragedy.

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  3. Hi Gloria! I always look forward to your posts. I resonate with your writing every time. Hope is a great light for us to shine on the darkness of the world. I too love that image you gave of the lighthouse, that searching light of God showing the way to those He loves. I hope you keep writing Gloria. Share that hope within you. Blessings to you and your family.

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  4. Thank you Gloria for your words. I am with you on being real in the writing. I also believe that when we can voice our questions and doubts, it does make our writing more real, Pat answers do not work for me. Keep sharing the hope, it is the best gift we can give.

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  5. Gloria, you know I "get" this. "If I'm not going to be real, what's the point?" I've asked that question of writing and of life. Thank you for saying what I feel and in doing so reaching across the internet to encourage when it's scary to be that honest.

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