A is for Accept by Lorilee Guenter

 God has given us words as a gift. He uses words to teach me and to correct me. Words are one way He shows Himself to us. He communicates with us. He spoke creation into being and Jesus calmed the storm with words. Gifts are of more value when they are accepted. It is my choice whether I believe and accept.

I choose to accept the the relationship He has called me into using His words. I choose to accept the teaching found in His written word to us. I also recognise that God uses people to write and speak into other people's lives. I am beginning to accept that God gives me words to share with others. I did not accept that for a long time and instead devalued myself and lost opportunities because of it. 

I continue to learn what it means to follow where God leads me. God asked Abram to go to a place unknown to him but known to God. Abram trusted God would lead him. God asked His prophets to speak the words He gave them. Jesus taught His disciples and then asked them to share that teaching using the authority He gave them. We are all called to be His disciples which includes using the gifts and words He has given us and sharing them with the audience He asks us to share with. This is not something we do on our own but in communication with the Holy Spirit.

By accepting God's direction, and following it, our words and actions bring glory to Him when He uses our offerings to teach us and others. 

My Mother was Right by Marcia Lee Laycock

 “And He has put in his heart the ability to teach, in him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer and the tapestry maker, in blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen, and of the weaver—those who do every work and those who design artistic works” (Exodus 35:34,35).

My Mother Was Right by Marcia Lee Laycock

I should have listened to her.

“You’d be a good teacher,” she’d say, as I pondered what to do with my life after high school. But I wanted to write, not teach.

Then I had to decide between the creative writing program at UBC in Vancouver and the Journalism program at Carleton U. in Ottawa.

“Can you make a living writing poetry in Canada?” My ever-practical dad kept asking that question. I listened to him and have often wondered if I made the right choice, though my years studying journalism at Carleton have often proven their worth.

I remembered both my parents’ words one day when I walked into a classroom full of students (mostly boys) in grades 7 to 9. It was literacy week at that Christian school and they had asked me to come and talk about poetry. The small room was packed, several grade nine boys leaning against the back wall with their arms crossed over their chests, slight smirks on their faces. My first thought was, oh-oh, I’m in trouble! They were prepared to be bored, prepared to tune me out. So I prayed a familiar prayer - “Lord, I’m going to need some help here!”

I had decided to tell stories as I talked about creating poetry that day, and had planned to end with a story about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, but I believe it was the Holy Spirit who nudged me to tell that story first. It is an inspiring story. When Mr. Solzhenitsyn was released from a Russian prison, some of his friends threw a party. Thousands of people showed up. They asked him to recite some of his work. He chose a poem about the freedom of a man’s spirit and his connection to God. Overcome with emotion, he was unable to continue. So the entire audience – an audience of over 3,000 people – recited the rest of the poem for him, in a whisper. They couldn’t do it out loud for fear of being discovered and arrested. 

Even possessing a copy of that poem could have meant jail time for those people. But they knew the words by heart. Mr. Solzhenitsyn’s words, which had been smuggled out of the prison at great risk, were precious to them, worth risking their freedom, worth suffering for.

I proposed to those young boys that words can change lives; poetry can give us hope and strength and even a measure of faith. I talked about the fact that creating such art is vital to our civilization, and to our very lives.

And those boys dropped their arms and leaned forward, caught by the story. Many of them created some fine poetry that afternoon. So yes, my mother was right. I thank God that he often gives me opportunity to teach. I thank Him too, for giving me the Holy Spirit, who guides and directs me, especially at times when I’m faced with a group of grade nine boys who don’t think they want to know what I’ve come to teach them.

God has indeed filled us “with skill to do all manner of work,” not just for our own delight, but for the delight and benefit of others, that they might know and see and believe in the goodness of our God.

HIBERNATION by Bryan Norford

Hmmm. If salting oneself away at a computer is hibernation, then I guess I hibernate all year! Mind you, I’m glad just to look at the weather this winter.

My desk faces a picture window looking over university lands, and I relish the thought that weather doesn’t interfere with the delightful task of writing. My sympathies to Glynis and others who have not been so fortunate.

But hibernation is selfish, isn’t it? Although against my isolationist tendency, we continue our writer’s group, Write Clique through the winter. So much for hibernation!

So below is my New Year letter to our group for others of you that participate in writing groups. Obviously, our schedule and practice will not suit everyone, but I trust there are some ideas that will encourage and spark interest.

Happy New Year to all you Write Cliquers:

Reviewing the past, I note that Write Clique has been going for just over two years, our first meeting on Thursday September 22, 2011.

All those who joined us during the following months are still with us, if not always able to attend—all except Chloe Collin who absconded with a man of her choice to Medicine Hat. Congratulations Chloe: keep on writing!

We are now about fourteen, and we expect our attendance to vary between eight and a dozen, depending on other commitments and priorities. This is particularly true as we will now meet twice a month to allow extra opportunities for those who cannot attend regularly.

We measure our success, not by numbers, but by the enjoyment and encouragement many of you have expressed. Not only that, books have been written by our members during that time, while others of you have issued other writings as the Lord has directed you.

Our main aim is to encourage new writers—as most of us are—against the discouragement of other priorities, people’s attitudes, and setbacks we all experience. As we are gifted and led by the Lord into writing, it’s essential we receive the fellowship and support of other writers like ourselves.

As we discussed at our 2013 wind up last November, we will meet on the second and fourth Thursdays each month. Winter dates are as follows: January 9 and 23, February and March 13 and 27. Please make a note of the dates, even if you can’t attend.

Our time will be 7.00 to 9.00 p.m. sharp!! We want to make the most of the time we have. Our schedule will be as follows, timing somewhat flexible:

7.00 Opening prayer, two minute devotional, and sharing. Sharing is not compulsory, but gives opportunity for discussing plans, dreams, progress, setbacks or difficulties for prayer and assistance if needed.

7.45 Instruction. This will be fairly basic, aimed at our general level of writing. I will give some and have others more experienced to share their knowledge in this slot also.

8.30 Fellowship. A time for one on one conversation and encouragement over coffee—decaf, tea, or other sleepy beverage.

For our first meeting, January 9, following our sharing time, I will share with you some resources I found helpful in ensuring work aims at a professional quality—essential if we desire to publish our work.

For other Thursdays, Craig Funston will talk about common grammar and word use mistakes, and Ruby Cleroux will discuss the basics for fiction writing. I’m open to suggestions for other ideas you’d find helpful.

So, we look forward to seeing you next Thursday

May God bless you all richly in 2014,
Bryan

Ponder, Print and Pass It On — Lynda Schultz

It's an obscure passage. Most people couldn't find Habakkuk in their Bibles if their lives depended on it. I'm not even sure how I ran across it though it could have been while I was hunting online for Christian wallpaper to use on the desktop of my computer. In any case, there it was, Habakkuk 2:2. It was an "aha" moment.

I've tried my hand at several genres but I always end up going back to the kind of writing that will never make me rich or famous—not that either of those is high on my priority list. The verse from Habakkuk summed things up rather nicely.

"Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it" (NIV).

Write the Word down, explain it so that people understand, and make it useable so that someone else can share it.

It's that simple and that complicated. I love the hunt, the research, the wrestling with ways to explain the meaning of Scripture. I look for the dots that need connecting, the "aha" moments when something I've read a hundred times finally comes to life as it has never lived for me before. I need to write it down, first of all for myself because I have such a poor memory, and then for others. Nothing gets me more excited than to share God's Word in a classroom with others. And there is no greater satisfaction than handing what I've learned to them in a sheaf of papers—their memories are probably just as short as mine. And maybe, just maybe, they'll pass on some of the knowledge they've gained to someone else.

That's it. That's all. That's lots.

Addy McCleod - Glynis Belec

Today, as I read another blog, memories flooded back. The blog writer talked about a negative experience she had with a teacher many years ago. She spoke of how the incident affected her life and how we can be influenced by such an experience. I agreed wholeheartedly about the kind of impact a person in a position of authority can have on a child. That influence can be positive or negative and it can have great bearing as he or she grows.

Then I thought about Mrs. Addy McCleod, my sixth grade teacher. Mrs. Mcleod was the first teacher I had when I came to Canada. Everyone said she was firm and mean. I found out that her heart was golden and she had the patience and compassion of a saint.

It was 1967. The boys in my new school were terribly cruel to me for a multitude of reasons. First, I had a funny English/Scottish accent. My mother made me wear the same gray school uniform that I wore to school in Scotland. They called me stale because it seemed as if that was all I had to wear. Many tearful afternoons were filled with questions for my mother.
"Why are the boys so cruel to me? Why do I have to wear this silly uniform? Why did we come to Canada, anyway? "

Soon Mom bought us more clothing and relented about us having to wear our school uniforms each day. But the boys still found reasons to pick on me.

Mrs. McLeod would sometimes catch those mean boys teasing me and she would give them the dickens. I remember many times spent with her in the classroom. She protected me from the nasty verbal blows. She intervened when I was most vulnerable. She encouraged me to be the best I could be and she showed me how to seize learning opportunities. She had not one iota of meanness in her even though she ran a tight ship in her classroom and even the mean boys knew better than to challenge her or misbehave.

As I work with children each day this week, I am going to think about Mrs. McLeod and the profound influence she had in my early years. I will remember how important it is to stick up for the weak, the forgotten, the insecure, the timid, the new kid on the block...

Come to think of it, Addy McLeod showed a lot of Jesus. I am thinking that maybe...just maybe...she opened up a door for me. She has passed the torch. My turn.