Who Am I Writing to Please? - by Tandy Balson

I have known from the beginning that many of the words I write don’t originate from me.  God guides my thoughts and forms the words that flow from my fingertips onto the page.

When I struggle with what to write it is usually because I’m trying to do it on my own.  The writer’s block is actually a self imposed barrier which makes it difficult for me to pay attention to the heavenly guidance being offered.

There have been times I’ve felt the inspiration to write on a certain topic and then been amazed at where it has led.  Since this wasn’t my plan, it must have been the one God intended.  When this happens I feel his pleasure that I was attuned to the message he wanted me to share.

I believe he gives me insight into everyday life experiences that are often taken for granted in our busy lives.  The sole purpose is for me to pass them on.  When I am obedient, it pleases him.

I understand that not all of the words I write will reach others or point them back to God.  Although this is my intention, I have no control over the final outcome.  For this reason, I need to write for an audience of one.  

Everything I write needs to be an offering to God.  When I take my meager gift and offer it back to God he is able to multiply it.  I pray that my words will be used to bring him glory but usually there is no actual confirmation that this has happened.  This is where faith and trust come in.

Then there are those incredible moments when I’m given the gift of hearing how the words have made a difference.

One of those times happened recently.  A woman approached me with a story to share.  She had been using my book as a daily reading.  (That alone blessed me!)  Her father had recently passed away and she had just read the final words he had written in his journal.  The next morning she opened my book to see those same words as the title of reading for that day.  The words that followed spoke to her so clearly that she chose to read this story at her father’s funeral.

I had tears rolling down my cheeks as she relayed this to me.  It was overwhelming to know that words I had written had impacted someone so deeply. I felt I had just received a warm embrace from God as he told me how pleased he was that I was obeying him with the writing I was doing.  

I thank God for the words he gives me and pray that my writing will always be pleasing to and glorify him.

Tandy is the author of Inspirations From the Everyday and Dragonflies, Snowdrifts & Spice Cake.  She blogs at www.timewithtandy.com

Finding Kairos by Connie Inglis

When I first read the prompt for this month I felt like I had little to say other than, "Yes, without question, I feel God's pleasure when I write." End of blog post.

But the longer I pondered it, the more ideas the Spirit put in my head to the point that so many thoughts were spilling over that I wasn't sure how to connect them all. Isn't that so typical of the way God works? To first inspire us in some way, and then to ask us to WORK it out? To use the gifts and abilities He's given us to bring His inspiration to fruition? For me these are two sides of the same coin and do relate to the topic at hand. I believe we can feel His pleasure no matter if the coin is heads--His inspiration in our mind--or tails--getting our tails in gear and doing the work. (A little side note. The nickel grabbed my attention because of the beaver and the English idiom: busy as a beaver. I know, I'm quirky that way.)

The first idea that the Spirit gave me was this: Actually feeling His pleasure depends on me, on my emotional state. God's pleasure, on the other hand, does not depend on me, on us, because His pleasure in us NEVER changes. His delight in us, His love for us, is constant and unconditional. Zephaniah 3:17 says it so well (This is a picture of my granddaughter. She too delights in running):

The longer I think about this, the more overwhelmed I become at how out-of-this-world ineffable that truth really is. Which also means I can feel His pleasure in enjoyable times, like when I am writing, but also in painful times, in times of struggle. HIS pleasure is always waiting for me, wanting to be felt.

Then the Spirit reminded me of the beautiful word picture of this in Luke 15: the parable of the lost son. The father's love for, his delight in his lost son does not waver. Each day he goes out and watches and waits and when his son returns home, the father shows delight in his son, throws his arms around him and then throws him a party. The son feels his father's pleasure. How like our Father is this picture? We, like the son, and like Eric Liddell, can run to Him and for Him and feel His pleasure. It waits for us. (image is of Rembrandt's work, "The Return of the Prodigal Son.")

So, if God delights in me always, if He finds pleasure in me as His child, then I believe He truly desires that I seek and find that place where I am "feeling His pleasure" anytime--all the time. This is where the Spirit reminded me of what it means to be in kairos time in contrast to chronos time.

I was introduced to kairos vs chronos time a few years ago when I read Mark Buchanan's book, The Rest of God: Restoring your Soul by Restoring Sabbath. We are familiar with chronos i.e. chronological or sequential time that is measurable. Buchanan states that, "Chronos is the presiding deity of the driven." Kairos, on the other hand, has no English equivalent. Wikipedia defines it as, "a time lapse, a moment of indeterminate time in which everything happens." Buchanan calls it, "the scent of eternity in our hearts," and Madeleine L'Engle in her book Walking on Water calls it, "Real time. God's time. That time which breaks through chronos with a shock of joy..." And then she says, "the artist at work is in kairos." I think Eric Liddell would have said that when he ran he was in kairos time. It is often when I am creating, whether with words or paints, that I sense God's delight, a taste of eternity--kairos time.

I hope this blog makes sense to you--that you get the connections I was trying to make. And that you are reminded once again of how much God loves you and delights in you and that His desire is for us to feel His pleasure often, whether we are running or writing or cleaning up kid messes or caring for a parent with dementia. And when we feel His pleasure we are given a little taste of eternity, we are in kairos time.