Do You Sing? by Brenda Leyland

"Just whistle while you work....It won't take long when there's a song to help you set the pace."

Do you remember that catchy little song from the old Disney movie Snow White? Even Snow White and all her happy characters knew that a happy tune can make the time seem to fly, as well as make any workload feel lighter and easier to bear.

Lady Bird Johnson once said that people should work on projects that make their hearts sing. To me, her words ring true, for I do not believe that life is meant to be a drudgery. Rather, we are meant to live beautifully... abundantly.... joyfully. Oh sure, we go through hard experiences and wildernesses, but we don't stay there.

The projects we choose to get involved with, either voluntarily or as a career, should not dampen our spirits, but rather they should provide a venue for contentment, abiding joy, and a sense of adventuring with God. They should energize and fuel us, not drizzle on us till there's only a damp smoldering where passion once burned bright.

Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where the song in our heart has been slowly dying. We don't feel like whistling or singing anymore. A few years ago, my own song almost died, because I was afraid to move out from a workplace that I had outgrown mentally and emotionally. To me, a signpost of whether or not a person is still doing what he or she should be doing, is whether the song is still in there.

Work on projects that make your heart sing.

~ Lady Bird Johnson

If your heart no longer sings while you work, maybe it's time to think about what will make the music start again. I took great comfort and encouragement from the Psalmist when he declared that if I walk in God's ways, I would eat the fruit of the labor of my hands, and I would be happy, blessed, fortunate, even enviable -- and that it would be well with me.

I'm happy to report that I sing a lot these days. I've found new joy in work that makes my heart sing, writing being just one of those joys.

It's never too late in God's world to start finding those projects -- those works He has uniquely prepared for you, those works that make your heart sing with joy and praise.

Now, I ask you, do you sing?

Brenda lives in Alberta with her husband and their sweet tortoiseshell cat, Miss Kitty. When she's not watching for glimpses of heaven in unexpected places, she's probably writing about them on her blog It's A Beautiful Life.

A Life, Worthy- M. Laycock

I once had to walk through a swamp with a heavy pack on my back. I stumbled at almost every step because of the muskeg, my legs chilled to the bone by ice-cold water that lurked beneath the hummocks we tried to walk on. But I had a friend with me who continually turned and encouraged me with words that made me believe I could do what had to be done. I finished that arduous trip only because I sensed he believed I could do it and it made me want to.

In Ephesians 4:1 – The Apostle Paul writes- “…I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” On the one hand this makes me smile and want to step forward with my head held high. On the other hand, it makes me cringe.

As Christians we have received a primary calling, to be like Jesus and to glorify Him in all things. That calling is irrevocable. And I am painfully aware that I fail to be worthy of it every day. I continually fall into sinful attitudes and thoughts. It makes me think of Paul’s cry in Romans – “oh wretched man that I am!” He too knew himself to be weak and unworthy, in his flesh, yet he also says – “Although I am less that the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ …” (Eph 3:8).

And in that I am encouraged, because the calling on my life does not depend on my worthiness. It depends only on God’s grace and that will be sufficient for the task, not so that I will succeed, not so that others will praise me, but so that the name of Christ will be exalted.

How amazing that God chooses to use us, chooses to give us a calling and the grace with which to accomplish it! Such awareness causes me to strive to do what Paul admonished the Ephesians to do – live a life worthy - worthy of the name God has bestowed on us. How amazing that even though we fail God continues to extend that calling and that grace, just as a coach continues to encourage his protégés even though they fall short of the mark.

The encouragement is in itself sustaining, because just knowing that He doesn’t give up on us keeps us going, keeps us striving, keeps us longing to live a life worthy - worthy of Him.

Where I Write - Kimberley Payne

Some days I have trouble sitting down to write because I can’t decide where the best place would be to stimulate my creative juices. I am blessed with several options, including my leather couch in the living room, my armchair in the sunroom, or my blue oversized chair in the office. In this summer season, my options can also include writing outdoors on the pool deck, or in a Muskoka chair overlooking the ravine, or on the low back chair on my front porch.

When the question was posed on The Word Guild discussion forum, I discovered that just as all writers are different, their writing places are as unique.

N.J. Lindquist likes to sit on her back deck, inside a tent with the netting closed. Her dog sits on the loveseat beside her. Stephanie Tombari taps away on her laptop late in the evening sitting on her bed with her husband out cold beside her. Patricia Paddey loves the freedom of her laptop. “It lets me write anywhere. And I do.”

Janice Dick uses a little white Mac laptop at her desk in the balcony overlooking her living room. Andi Harris is content to sit on her living room futon (curved out just so from her constant use), laptop in front, side table with fruit juice or water, and a couple of clip boards.

Belinda Burston sits “in a dappled place beside a sturdy clump of silver birch--so lovely that I had to capture it with the eye of my camera. A canopy of leaf laden branches, danced above my head, while a breeze passed through them with a sigh. The electronic drone of an air conditioner added to the symphony of tweets, twitters, chirrups and soft coo-ing. Over my arms, warmed by the sun, the cool, silken veil of breeze flowed. I was ready to listen in the cool of this morning.”

Carolyn Wilker writes most often in her home office using pen or pencil and paper, which she takes with her whenever she goes away from home. Linda Hall writes “with pen and paper –actually medium point gel pens, the ultra-fine Sharpies are good, on back sides of paper (unlined), and I like to write with various colored sharpies - like orange or red. I write in half shorthand (which I used way back in the dark ages when they taught shorthand to journalism students). And I usually work in Starbucks.” Heather Kendall also writes “the old-fashioned way with pen and paper”. She needs to have a rough outline down on paper before she dares put it in the computer.

Each writer and her writing space is unique. Today, I plan to sit in my tent-trailer and open all the windows to let in the air without the bugs. It’ll provide the shade I need so I’m not roasting in the sun. It also offers a clear view of the blue sky with a smattering of puffy clouds in the distance. Now that I’ve picked my place to write, I actually need to do so. What to write, what to write?

Kimberley Payne
www.kimberleypayne.com

Great Writers Are Made - Bonnie Way

There seems to be a perception that great writers are born, not made. We picture our favourite author sitting at the computer—or at their desk, if they come from an earlier era—effortlessly transferring brilliant sentences and paragraphs from their mind to the screen or page. Their editor or publisher stands by, hanging on every word, eager to present it to the thousands of adoring fans who can’t wait to read it.

For those of us who are aspiring writers, it’s a depressing picture. We stare at our own messy prose and wonder why we think we can call ourselves “writers.” We see the rejection letters that pile up in our inboxes—if we manage to muster the courage to submit our stumbling prose to an editor’s harsh eye—and think that we’re utter failures who should really just give up, because we won’t ever be like ______ (insert your favourite author’s name).

But then we hear stories of writers who received rejection letters, took the suggestions to heart, kept working and learning and polishing, and finally, became published, best-selling authors. Authors who were clearly made, not born. And we think that maybe there’s hope for us too.

One author who inspires me in such a way is Lisa Samson. I’ve read only her first book and her most recent book. And the difference between those two is astounding. She’s clearly a writer who has worked hard at her craft. One who proves that you can learn how to write. She’ll admit that words don’t come easily to her, that she’d rather do almost anything else than write—and yet, she writes. She does the hard work to produce books that reach her readers.

So on the days you don’t want to write because you think your work will never be like _____’s, or the days when your writing seems to drag, think of that story you’ve heard about the writer (and I know you’ve heard the stories like I have) who got hundreds of rejections or the author who kept learning and improving. Maybe you have a few to share with us here, to inspire us to keep writing as you keep writing.