Monday, March 31, 2008

The Garden of a Book


It's raining today. A sure sign of spring.

I spent time last week planting and glad I did when I had the opportunity. First I cleaned out the beds of old rotten leaves and shriveled-up vines. My husband then cultivated the soil that had grown rock hard over the autumn and winter seasons, adding fertilizer and other nutrients. Then with my hands in the soft soil, I began planting away. Vegetables first, including lettuce and broccoli seedlings. Sometimes the lettuce was so delicate, I was afraid I might break it. Then I moved to the flower beds and bulbs I had ordered in the mail. I planted them according to the directions, some of which depended on what kind of bulb I had. Then I watered all my gardens.
But today, God is providing His own rain from the clouds. And He, too, will provide the growth.
One plants. The other waters. God causes the growth.
So it is as well with our writing. Maybe you have a manuscript that has become rather dried up and hard by inactivity and now sorely in need of cultivating. Or you have the seeds of a book in mind, maybe even in its seedling stages, that is becoming root bound unless it is planted in the fertile soil of your creativity and talent the Lord has given you. Maybe you are like me right ow - having planted and watered many different proposals to prospective editors, I am now waiting on God to cause the growth. Whatever stage you are in, it is important to be faithful. Whether a big project or small, whether in cultivating, planting or simply waiting to bear fruit, God expects us to use our writing talent for His glory.
So now I watch the rain fall and think about my plants growing while waiting expectantly for a bountiful harvest in the end.

Monday, March 24, 2008

That Time of Year....


Ah yes, spring. I love it for planting my garden. Watching new flowers emerge from the cold soil. Feeling the warmth of the sun on my face.
And..yes, enduring my seasonal battle with a cold.
I seem to get a bad head cold twice a year. Once in the fall and once in spring. It's like the calling of the change in season when the cold arrives. Just in my case, it came at Easter, right when I didn't care to have it. I spent Easter Sunday at home, away from my family and my church family, to nurse a sore throat and stuffy nose.
But I used the time for good. I watched "The Passion of the Christ" - Mel Gibson's movie about Jesus' last days. It was an excellent reminder of what the Easter season really is all about. That by His stripes, which were so cruel, and hurtful, and pain-filled - we are healed. It's an eye-opening thing to consider what He endured for us, and even more amazing as I sit here nursing a cold that He took it all so I might find healing. And not just for this cold of mine. But healing in all things. Disappointment. Loss. Confusion. Anxiety. All of it. Thanks be to God.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

God's Victory


This picture was taking during my six months on the Appalachian Trail last year in northern Pennsylvania. A gentle reminder of God's victory over the cross, and that means victory over trials, disappointments, mourning, pain, and death. Victory that surpasses all of man's wisdom and knowledge to beyond what we can truly comprehend. I was glad to see such a reminder on a trail like the AT that proved tough to do. And it is a good reminder now as I go through a few of those bumpy ups and downs back here on the homefront. That God is ultimately in control.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Irish I am Not....


...but that's okay - I am having my corned beef and cabbage dinner anyway. And who can resist a nature photo like this of God's wonderful creation? And who can not help but remember that man of God long ago named Patrick who witnessed so many marvelous miracles? He had his times of testing and trial, certainly. Oh, but if we could for a moment tap into the faith he had. The perseverence. The desire to know God more and more, despite what one endures in this day to day living. We would see our world, our community, ourselves changed for the better.
Here is a wonderful prayer that I read today from Colossians 1: 10-11. Maybe you can make it yours:
"...that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowlege of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy...
Patrick's life exemplified such things and it is good then to have a day to remember the saints of old who have run the race, keeping their eyes fixed on the Author and Finisher of their faith.
Patrick sums up his eternal faith with this quote:
"Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger."
Even if I am not Irish, I can share in his spirit that made him one with God.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Toothache...


Ye ol' toothache. Actually, my tooth hasn’t been too bad, thanks to many people who have been praying for it. But let's just say I have let this molar of mine go for a long while now. It all began with a few symptoms last year. I have been using sensitive toothpaste on it and managed to control the symptoms for a while, even while I was hiking last year.

Then a few days ago my tooth took a turn after trying to eat some hot food for dinner. The pain shot into my cheek and remained for quite some time. Now it seems better, but I know I have put off the inevitable. I need to get the tooth checked.

So...what have you been putting off in the writing arena? Maybe it's a writing project that you began last year. You have decided, well, it's not doing anything. I’m just going to leave it alone. But now it's 2008. Maybe it's time to take out that work, refresh it by some "drilling" and a new filling of content to make it shiny and new. And get it out in a proposal to editors. Because our writing doesn’t do anything sitting in a computer file. It begins to even decay with time as we fill our lives with other ideas. So, see if there is some work you can pull out and give it new life. And maybe that work will be the one that bites on a brand new shiny nickel…er...contract for this year!

Monday, March 3, 2008

Waiting Mode

I'm in official waiting mode on my writing.
I have the proposals out there, just like the empty chairs.
Now I am waiting for them to either be taken or rejected. Preferably the former and NOT the latter, of course.
But waiting mode can be difficult for a writer. Especially if you have a variety of projects out there and nothing yet has been selected. You have a number of proposals all lined in a row, on editors' desks or in their computer folders, along with many other hopeful writers. Hoping, praying that yours has the zing to lift it out of the dead end zone and to the land of the living.
So what do you do in the meantime? Well, today with the nice weather I got on my work gloves and began to clean out the garden beds. I will be planning a trip later this month with our teen church group. I will be going on a hike Wednesday to commemorate the first anniversary of my hike with my son on the Appalachian Trail. I will likely have several manuscripts to judge in a writing contest. And blogs to read, people to meet online. Spring cleaning to do.
But I do go back to those things God has put in my my heart. Writing. Projects. Waiting, wondering what will happen. But maintaining hope. And hope does not disappoint.

Winner of Daily Planner


Is...Robin Bayne! Congratulations!!


Enjoy this fine spring day. It is here in Virginia.