“Look Up. Look wa-a-ay up.”
“One little chair for one of you, and a bigger chair for two to curl up in, and for someone who likes to rock, a rocking chair in the middle.”
“And there's that boot.”
Do you recognize these words? You may be dating yourself along with me if you do. As a child I remember pausing in play to watch The Friendly Giant, who said these lines each show. This month’s theme is looking back, looking forward, and these words of The Friendly Giant help me do both.
In my writing, when I look back I can see some advancement in 2014; but to be honest, I have to look wa-a-ay back to see any real forward movement in my writing. Over the years I have received praise from teachers and professors, known the freedom of journaling to aid in personal healing and understanding, experienced the joy of winning contests, felt the satisfaction of supporting organizations with my prose, and seen the occasional publication of a written gem. Writing is a large part of me no matter what I am doing, but any accomplishment has been happenstance, not purposed, and rarely sought.
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| The Friendly Giant Museum |
I am amazed at how fast the last few years have flown by, with major life events and changes marking time in my journey. Life continued while I was not looking, and I became rusty at what I enjoy. It’s time to get in shape! Being connected to other writers is a way God is encouraging me to exercise writing - making time to write, writing specific projects rather than jumping from one unfinished project to another, and seeking to somehow share my offering. “And there’s that boot.” So in 2015, with God firmly nudging and strengthening me, and with fellow writers to encourage me through accountability, I submit to God and will be more purposed in my writing.
I hesitate to say I undertake this commitment of writing with excitement, but I embark on it because it’s clear the season is now. Nothing in my life has changed - I still minister with my husband while working full time, my health is stable with energy returning and closing on the mark of two years cancer-free, my family is still adjusting to new dynamics in living arrangements - yet the promise I made to God years ago, remains. “That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.” (Psalm 26:7 KJV) God now seems to be going before me to provide opportunities, so I will head where God is leading, as He goes “on ahead to lower the drawbridge”. What a great picture of hope for our writing - when I see in my circumstances a dangerous moat and no way across, God provides a drawbridge; a path of safety He opens for me.
Whatever genre I settle into, whatever audience of readers it is shared with, if any, God is not simply leading me in my writing - He is leading me in His eternal kingdom. Eternity is a concept hard to grasp - it makes me feel so small, like the little chairs looked next to The Friendly Giant’s hand. Yet eternity with Him is what God promises and what motivates me toward more purposeful writing in this physical realm of that eternity. The only way I know to be purposeful is to look to God for leading, clarification, and inspiration through Scripture, prayer, and relationship.
My goals for 2015, therefore, are to “Look up, look wa-a-ay up” and to write with purpose – to deadline, to word count, to finish, and to share.
God will do wondrous works in our lives and through our writing as we look to Him this year.
1. The Friendly Giant (1958-1985), Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
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