Writing that Makes My Heart Sing by Lorrie Orr

 

Slice of life: a story about a small segment of one's day, a poem that tells about a small moment in time, a collection of words and photos that describes a scenario

Slice of life perfectly describes the writing that makes my heart sing. I've loved writing my blog Fabric Paper Thread since 2007. Along the way since then I've written and published articles, begun a book or two, created hundreds of lesson plans, and struggled with writing essays in English and French for my B.A. I've learned so much and have truly enjoyed writing of all sorts. 

But...writing the little stories of my life is what charms me most. These might be short interactions with strangers, mental notes taken while out and about, or sweet anecdotes about my grandchildren. My current large writing project is the story of our family's years in Ecuador (21 of them!) and of God's faithfulness to us. 

I love writing about nature, and combining words with images captured on my camera. I write in a most unscientific way about my observations on the wonders of creation - what goes on in my garden, or in the geographies I visit. 

I love to write the kinds of things I love to read - mysteries (they are hard to write), poetry, vignettes about food and home-keeping, stories of the past and the present. 

As I string words together, I am always cognizant of the presence of Christ guiding my writing, and yet much of my writing is not overtly Christian. C. S. Lewis writes "We needn't all write patently moral or theological work. Indeed, work whose Christianity is latent may do quite as much good and may reach some whom the more obvious religious work would scare away. The first business of a good story is to be a good story." Blog readers occasionally write me private emails to ask for prayer, or to comment on my faith and how they hope for more faith in their own lives. 

In my collected quotations, this one, by L. M. Montgomery in Anne's House of Dreams, where Anne is conversing with Gilbert, perhaps describes my favourite writing projects best,

"I'd like to add some beauty to life, said Anne dreamily.

I don't exactly want to make people know more...

I'd love to have them have a more pleasanter time

because of me...to have some little joy

or happy thought that would never have existed

if I hadn't been born."

Lorrie Orr writes from Vancouver Island where she enjoys boating and hiking with her husband. Gardening, reading, sewing, and spending time with her five grandchildren fill her days when she isn't teaching Spanish at a local high school. She also writes a "slice of life" blog at www.fabricpaperthread.blogspot.com

Breaking News .... by Jocelyn Faire

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming to Bring You This Very Important Public Service Announcement   robinkirbygattodotcom.files.wordpress.

The Lord foils the plans of the nations;
    He thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  Psalm 33:10 NIV  

The human journey fills with interruptions of our regularly scheduled lives by ...

disaster, joy, babies, disease, beauty, rainbows, cups of tea, storms, phone calls, questioning children, loneliness, reminders that life is not fair

We interrupt whatever you're doing to bring you ...

Interruption ... what does it mean? ... The online dictionary defines it as:

1. to cause or make a break in the continuity or uniformity of (a course, process, condition, etc.).

2.to break off or cause to cease, as in the middle of something: (from www.dictionary.com)

This month while contemplating the topic of interruptions ...  planning once again to work ahead, my plans were thwarted once more. Ceasing as in the middle of something became a regular occurrence. My mind was busy taking mental notes of life interruptions that were happening all around me.

My brother in law was in a motor cycle accident, and from the  moment the police arrived at my sister's door to rush her to the hospital to be with him, her life has been turned sideways into an endurance pace for a brain injury recovery. The prognosis is positive, but the days are filled with uncertainty. This accident impacted many lives and events. On another note it meant that my sister and I were now the co-planners for a family baby shower. Even though planned, that baby's arrival is an interruption of eternal significance for my nephew and his wife. That baby girl is a delightful interruption for the smitten first-time around grandparents. My daughter's furlough has been interrupted with uncertainty after the hospitalization of her mother in law. Her mother-in-law has been battling cancer for a number of years, and the unknown leaves my daughter and her husband wondering if they should delay their return to Africa. 

As I type this morning on a lakeside deck, my husband of eight months interrupts my writing with “Would you like a cup of tea?" I say yes as I reflect on the changes/interruptions of my recent status quo to now having nine new grandchildren who have spent the past few days with us at a cabin on Lake of the Woods in Ontario. Four year old Leah sneaks up to me as I write, she only needs to smile to warm my heart. Her brother's shouts have me rushing to the dock to catch one of my best pictures of the summer. Talk about interruptions! I chuckled as I delighted to have a great image for this month's theme. Here is a frog who has been seriously interrupted. (Yes-it is a garter snake swallowing a frog.)

My recent change of marital status has been one of the most wonderful interruptions that has turned the corner after a long stretch of grief processing.

I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Psalm 16:8 NIV

While writing is not my career, it continues to be an important outlet for the processing of the last dozen years that have been an ongoing series of interruptions. I have prayed for God to continue directing all aspects of my life, especially for the right people to cross my path. I am keenly aware that He is present in all moments. It has been said that interruptions are God's way of getting our attention. I hope to be mindful when it happens. 

The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own,' or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life—the life God is sending one day by day.  CS Lewis