U is for Understandable by Carol Harrison

 

U is for Understandable

From the babble of a baby to the muted swirl of conversation connected with hearing loss, I long for being able to understand conversations. I don’t think I am alone. Even without some hearing loss we may struggle to fully understand someone whose first language does not match our own or a single soft voice amid the din of a crowd.

Good communication demands understandability whether orally or in written form. This involves the words we choose to use. Is our writing filled with idioms and slang that only someone familiar with those terms would understand? How do we make it more understandable. I realize that idioms vary with culture and location but I found out they also vary with age groups within the same area.

Years ago on a stormy winter night, I used the phrase “don’t hit the rhubarb.” I had heard this term often in my life as a means of telling people to be careful and not go into the ditch while driving. The young woman I spoke to had grown up close to Saskatoon on a farm and had never heard the term before. Likewise, when my one daughter moved to Ontario from Saskatchewan, no one knew what a bunnyhug was. Everyone there called it a hoodie.

But aside from watching how many idioms or regional expressions we might use, there is other ways our writing needs to be understandable for our audience. I have had the privilege of being published in The Upper Room magazine a few times. One thing I had to learn is that the devotional I wrote needed to be able to be translated into many languages and still retain the same message. I had to write about things that people would understand no matter what culture or country they came from.  I wrote one devotional about hockey which they politely declined. It didn’t have universal appeal and understandability.

I also have had the opportunity to write and be accepted in Chicken Soup for the Soul books. These are also translated into other languages and although the topic needs to fit the book theme like my hockey story in the book Hooked on Hockey, it needs to use words and sentences not easily lost in translation.

As we write let’s strive to make our words easily understandable to our audiences including if our writing were to be translated into another language. What experience have you had with trying to understand a conversation or a piece of writing? 

 

Carol Harrison lives and writes in Saskatoon, SK. She also enjoys family time, helping others learn communication skills, and making junk journals.
 

Timely Reading, Timeless Writing by Bob Jones

When writing starts where people live - their questions, struggles, and concerns - and

then offers a timely and helpful word from the Scriptures, people are more

interested in hearing what else the Scriptures have to say.

Have you ever read someone’s story and thought, “That’s exactly what I needed to read”? Your writing will do that for someone else. Affirmation for what we write is like gold, but it’s the comments about how timely the content is for a reader that inspire us the most.

“This was exactly what I needed to hear to start my day! Thank you!”

“This is definitely what I needed to read today… absorb it and now live it.”

“Just what I needed to hear this morning to strengthen me and know beyond any doubt that God has me.”

“You don’t know how much I needed to read that today.”

 

Timing is Everything

Timely words - the right words at the right time - are a gift from God. Inspired words can be most inspiring when truth meets need. 

 

Amy Rees Anderson is an author and a highly sought after keynote speaker and a frequent lecturer on college campuses. She posted this prayer on her blog on June 13^th with the comment: Hopefully one of you reading this will find this poem to have exactly the words you needed to hear at exactly the time you needed to hear it too.

The Knot Prayer

 

Dear God:
Please untie the knots
that are in my mind,
my heart and my life.

Remove the have nots,
the can nots and the do nots
that I have in my mind.

 

Erase the will nots,
may nots,
might nots that may find
a home in my heart.

 

Release me from the could nots,
would nots and
should nots that obstruct my life.

 

And most of all,

Dear God,
I ask that you remove from my mind,
my heart and my life all of the ‘am nots’
that I have allowed to hold me back,
especially the thought
that I am not good enough.

AMEN

-unknown

 

The beauty of a book or blog or archived content on the web is that people can access it from anywhere, at any time. Timeless words can become timely. The comment below resulted from the reader encountering content I published three years previous.

 

“I accidentally came across this article. It touches me deeply. I wanted to keep myself isolated from anyone and anything that could hurt me. I now realize I was afraid, holding myself in a mental prison because I wanted to be the peacemaker and it was taking my peace of mind. Keeping up the expectations of everyone else. I am learning how much He loves and cares for me regardless of my situation.” 

I look for comments right after I post content, especially on the Inscribe Writers blog. How about you? Are you ever discouraged by a lack of immediate response from your invitation to connect or comment? I hope this post will encourage you that your writing is timely and can have a timeless effect for good.

 

Timely Conversations

Timeliness is not only about people engaging writing, but writers engaging people in random conversations. As you seek God for inspiration, pay attention for God’s direction.

Julia Cameron, famous for her book, The Artist’s Way, and for the practice of Morning Pages, says,

“When we seek daily spiritual guidance, we are guided toward the next step forward for our art. Sometimes the step is very small. Sometimes the step is, "Wait. Not now." Sometimes the step is, "Work on something else for a while." When we are open to Divine Guidance, we will receive it. It will come to us as timely conversations with others.”

What content have you written that was inspired by a timely conversation? What might you encounter today that would be the creative breakthrough you are praying for?

Do you feel God’s nudge to write something today that the Spirit can use in a timely manner? What are you waiting for?

 

Thank you for reading. And commenting. 

Bob and his wife Jocelyn are both Reverends and write at www.REVwords.com

Get the Inscribe App!

InScribe has a new way to connect and keep up to date on all of our events and activities! We have our own "InScribe App"!

If you haven't uploaded the App on your phone yet, here is the link:

 https://shelby.ministryone.com/landing/N3ke

We rolled out the app at our Fall Conference in October but there will be lots more communication coming about how to use it, its advantages, and more! Watch this VERY HELPFUL (and short!) video to get you started. 

Connection - Marnie Pohlmann

The posts this month describing the 2019 Inscribe Fall Conference have been interesting. Many who attended seemed to enjoy the change in format, at first wary of this “Open Space” concept yet willing to participate. Most registrants came away enjoying the change, surprised at what they learned and how God worked despite not having workshop teachers. The worship times and devotionals were meaningful. Not that past years were not just as impacting; this year was simply… different.

I did not participate in the conversations as much as others at this year’s Conference. I stayed in my comfort zone, struggling to get the Stripe payment system working. I was also people-watching. What, exactly, was I seeing?

I watched people network with one another, whether in a group session or sitting with friends over coffee. We all had both writing and God in common, which added to the ease of communication, but there was something more. I saw people sharing freely, whether they had known each other for years or had just met. 

People mentioned being ministered to. What was it about Open Space that encouraged this? I have a theory.

I saw relationships growing. Individuals were sharing deeply. They were well past the what-do-you-write type of how’s-the-weather talk. Speakers were freely sharing. Listeners were caring and attentive. Attendees of all ages were learning from one another.

There is a deeper level of conversation that feeds our souls and frees us from remaining in the polite society level of relationship. God has been teaching me about this kind of communication, encouraging me to develop the skill of speaking with both friends and strangers to reach that deeper sharing more quickly.

This past Spring, I attended a women’s simulcast conference. The concept of asking questions that lead to more honest conversation was demonstrated during the two days. Women were equipped to share transparently, learning a simple way to speak to neighbours, coworkers, and each other to develop relationships and introduce God through caring communication.  Google “IF: Gathering” and you can discover what it’s all about. Perhaps there will be an IF: Local near you. There will be another in Fort St John this coming February.

Most of you probably already have this communication skill, whether unconsciously as part of your personality or consciously practicing relationship building. The idea is not new. As writers, we know about asking open-ended questions that cannot be answered with one word and provide more valuable information. As Christians, we understand the need for mentoring, discipling, and encouragement. But I am only now recognizing the difference that connecting in deeper conversation can make in a relationship.

Parents use this style with their children. Ask a child how school was that day and you will probably get “Fine.” Ask a child to describe what they enjoyed at school you may get a story about kindness, a good grade, or an interesting topic of study.

Jesus used this kind of communication with his disciples and the crowds. He asked questions. He used everyday life to introduce spiritual truth. He listened and watched and knew the heart of his disciples and of strangers in the crowds. Jesus quickly reached an intimate relationship with all he spoke with. God in us only makes a difference to others when we are in an actual relationship; more than a wave-on-garbage-day relationship but one where listening and caring and sharing is purposed.

From Old Testament times, our relationships were meant to have a purpose - to experience and share God in our everyday life. Deuteronomy 6:4-10 describes this communication to the nation of Israel.

“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

(New Living Translation – italics added.)

We can use this form of communication at church, work, or across the fences in your neighbourhood. Rather than asking how their week was, which will usually get the “Fine” or “Good” answer, take the risk to begin a conversation on more than a surface level. Know, however, that this kind of conversation is never one-sided. You, too, must be prepared to share your heart.

Taking an honest interest in others may be easier when we have writing and God in common, like at Conference, but our calling is to communicate with both printed and oral words in a transparent way that allows God to shine through.

Some topics or questions to start a connection.

The best moment of the past week.
A relationship you struggled with this week.
What you are using for your daily devotions right now.
The number of words you think you wrote this week.
How you feel about (insert current news story.)
Who you are looking forward to getting together with next week (or over Christmas.)
Where you have been in the past year that you would recommend someone visit.
When/how you met your spouse or God.
Why you chose your profession. What led you to live in this neighbourhood.
Who the person in your genealogy is whose story is most interesting.
Who you admire that you would like to know more about.

A Writer is Born by Steph Beth Nickel

The Compulsion to Write

I’ve often heard writers say, “I just have to write.”

To be honest, I’ve wondered if that meant I wasn’t a real writer because I didn’t feel that compulsion.

Could I feel complete without writing? While I thought the answer was likely yes, I took a good hard look at my life and realized that’s probably not true—at least not without an outpouring of God’s grace.

For those of you who haven’t known me for at least five minutes, you may not know that I am a relationship-driven extrovert who loves to talk. (I remember a game we used to play while walking to the school bus at the end of the day. Someone would suggest a topic and the one who could talk about it longest was the winner. Guess who often could talk the longest about even things she knew nothing about?)

Another Way to Communicate

As I thought back over my life, I realized that writing is just one more way I communicate—with others, with the Lord, with myself.  (And I definitely can’t imagine losing the ability to communicate.) I’ve come to view the journaling I do for my eyes only as “rambling until I stumble across truth.” I pray most effectively when I write in my prayer journal. Otherwise, I’m too easily distracted. (I have what I call Butterfly Syndrome, my mind flits from one thing to the next to the next.)

And what about communicating with others via the written word?

My answer to that was what made me wonder if I was really a writer.

Does someone have to read what I write?

Do I need to produce a best seller to consider myself a success?

Because the answer to those things is no, my definition of writer—at least successful writer—differs from that of many others.

But can I see myself not putting words on paper—or the computer screen? Facebook updates? Blog posts? Poems? Prose? Random thoughts?

Nope. Nope. Nope. 

 

The Written Word in Many Forms

Over the years, my writing has taken many forms: poems no one would ever read; encouraging notes and cards that arrived in the recipient’s hand at just the right time, evidence of God’s work in my life—and theirs; journal entries; advertorials for our local newspaper; hundreds of blog posts over the last five years; devotionals; co-authoring Paralympian Deborah L. Willows’ memoir; etc.

So, just when did I become a writer? Probably the first time I put pencil to paper to record my thoughts—approximately five decades ago, long before anything I ever wrote would be published.

Do I have to write? The more I think about it, the more I would say yes. It is what God intended me to do.

What does that look like? It changes from year to year, but it still involves some form of communication through the written word.

If you’re not what you think other means by the terms writer and author, it doesn’t mean you don't qualify. If you can’t imagine not putting your words out there for one reason or another—or just recording them in a private journal, you are a writer—as I am.