M is for Moments by Lorilee Guenter

I sat on a rough log as a gentle breeze formed ripples on the lake in front of me. A song brought tears of grief. As I sat, a pelican appeared swimming along the shoreline to my right. While it swam out from the tree cover, I thanked God for the gift of seeing the bird up close. Little did I know it would climb out of the water and sit on the rocks beside me. The two of us sat together in silence. It was a moment orchestrated by God.

I was near the end of a spring hike. My legs protested each step as I neared the trail head. As I gasped for air, I told my husband I was done. I knew I would continue but I wanted to stop and sit on the cold ground, giving in to every complaining muscle in my body. It was an irrational thought since we could see the curve in the path just before the trail head and parking lot. I continued knowing comfort was close. As I turned the corner bringing the vehicle into view, I heard a rustling in the woods. I looked up to see a bear looking at me. We held each others eyes for a moment before it continued to the spot I wanted to stop at and then to the river beyond. I continued to the car.

These two examples are unusual experiences. They are moments in time brought about by God. The unexpected and the everyday events all enrich our lives and our writing. 

I looked up the definition of moment. It is a measure of time that is usually brief, such as my encounter with the bear or the pause to notice a new flower. It can also be a point in time that is noteworthy, such as my encounter with the pelican. I find the first blossoms on my haskap plants each spring spring noteworthy. It is a moment I look forward to since it is a sign of the garden waking up. They arrive along with tulips and other spring flowers. The moment I notice them is a brief time. In that way the moment of noticing meets both definitions.

When I write fiction the moments I choose to create give insight into what is important to the characters. They move the story forward. My experiences allow me to add authenticity as I include details I have experienced. However, my experiences don't limit my imagination. Instead they inform it and provide a framework I can build on.

In life, each moment is a chance to pause and recognise God's presence. It is an opportunity to admire His handiwork. From moment to moment He is writing His story and we have the privilege of being part of it. 

E is for Everyone by Lorilee Guenter

 

Reading a Story

I write because it is one way I work out my thoughts. I draw to relax. These are just two ways of interacting with the world around us. Everyone has ways they prefer to experience this life we have been given. We have also been given a community we can share our experiences with.

Sometimes when I think of the phrase, 'everyone has a story' I cringe. It is true we have a story, however sometimes that statement is used to suggest we should all share in the same way. Everyone has a story but everyone also has a unique voice. Our experiences, our gifts, our talents and our preferences all impact how and where we share. A poet has a different audience than an essayist. I could continue to list all the variety we have in our community as writers but I would miss some. 

As writers we have opportunity to share our stories with people near and far. Some of us have been given an audience that is geographically diverse. Other have an audience close to home. Whatever place we have to share our words, we have an obligation to follow the Holy Spirit's leading and share. When we hold back, when we mute our voice, there is a gap in the greater story of God's redemption.

This week I was reading the recorded story of Lazarus in John 12. I noticed that following his being raised from the dead, people came to Bethany not only to see Jesus but also to see if what they heard about Lazarus was true. Verse 11 stood out to me "on account of him [Lazarus] many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus." Lazarus' story made a difference. We may never see or hear the impact that our writing and our lived stories impact people. I am confident that when we are obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, they make a difference in some way. 

On account of our time with Jesus, we have something to share. Everyone who believes has a unique place in God's story. 

THE PLEASURE IS ALL MINE by Bryan Norford

What does it feel like to experience God’s pleasure? There are times, as Ramona suggests, when writing flows easily. Perhaps that is feeling His pleasure. But when writing is hard, is that because He is displeased? More likely, difficult writing is probably fielding the displeasure of the evil one. Meaningful dialog comes from the pain of writing as well as its pleasure.

To be honest, I am low on the emotional scale, so feelings rarely come into the categories that drive my writing. But if passion is included in the feelings cluster, perhaps that provides Him pleasure as it drives my need to write. For me, the passion I feel is born of the correspondence of my experience with the truth: the “yes, that’s so right” moment.

Our hearts can be deceitfully wicked, and our feelings often unreliable. The Mormon “burning bosom” that’s supposed to confirm truth can be misleading. Never-the-less, as we listen to Him we mimic the experience of the two on the road to Emmaus: "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

It’s that experience that excites me as I read Scripture. Recently, I read—it seemed for the first time—Isaiah 59:21: "As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the Lord. "My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever," says the Lord.

In context, “them” are those of Israel who have repented of their sin. That includes us Gentiles, for all who belong to Christ are Abraham’s seed, Galatians 3:29. For one whose primary burden is the legacy I leave for my ever extending family, this doubles my desire and drive to write the truth.

The whole of life—living daily with Him—should evoke the pleasure of His company. But especially writing that expresses or confirms the way Scripture predicts both personal and public life drives my passion. This desire to honour Him, I must believe, brings Him pleasure. My response, as the saying goes: “The pleasure is all mine.”

WHY WRITE? by Bryan Norford

Is your experience is like mine? Do some consider your writing a sort of escape, a hiding place, a monastic cell—looking and commenting, but not really doing anything? “Why do you do this?” someone asked me once, with a get yourself a real job tone.

I suppose, looking from outside, writing can seem like that. Surely, it’s for discretionary time; a hobby to be wrapped around the urgent or important. Explanations are simply excuses. Writing is a sort of deferred hope, a refusal to live here and now. In an instant culture, preparing for the long haul is tedious, unnecessary when there is so much need now.

And don’t claim writing is a call from God. That makes Him the excuse for distraction from real work; worse, for laziness. Of course, most of us do perceive it as a call from God, frequently powered by a drive that nothing else will satisfy. Yet, legitimate as these reasons may be, they are insufficient.

Many have drive, often for destructive impulses. We need a passion, not just for pen and print, but also a passion for purpose. From reading this column, I doubt any here write passionately for money—although covering expenses, or making a living, are responsible by-products.

Beyond that: Why do you or I write?

If words transmit ideas, then words on paper should equally number those spoken. But writing is speaking to the future. Spoken words die on the wafting air, but words on media live somewhere to the end of time. If the speaker deserves adulation, the writer more so.

Our first book, not originally for publication, was a legacy of marriage for our children and grandchildren on our fiftieth wedding anniversary. Even after its publication, later writings were also primarily for our growing number of descendants.

The quarterback does not throw the ball to where the catcher is, but to where the catcher will be when the ball arrives. Similarly, we write for a future need, not necessarily a felt need in the present. Writing is a way of reaching beyond our lifetime to future generations.

Especially, it projects the grace and glory of God that we have experienced into the future. There, we can share the full life God gave us with those who follow.