Returning From The Mount

Well, I've returned from Mt. Hermon's Writers' Conference with joy in my heart and fire in my soul. It was exciting to see God working in the lives of talented writers and to gain encouragement for my own passion to write. The picture at the right includes all the members of my fiction mentoring clinic. The gal front and center is Gayle Roper, our instructor/mentor, from whom we gleaned much wisdom. (You should check out her current novel, Fatal Deduction!) Our group consisted of writers at varying skill levels and genres - fantasy, western, biblical fiction and romance. But each one of us contributed and each one took away important tools to make us better writers. Most importantly, I believe each one felt encouraged.

For some writing is a gift, a talent or a passion. For others it's a task, a project, a mountain to be climbed or conquered. No matter how we view the compiling of words on a page or screen, each true writer shares a common purpose. All seek to arrange our meager 26-letter alphabet in a way that reaches people with God's message of love and grace. That's what keeps me writing when the conference is over and no one is there to cheer me on except the dog sleeping quietly beside me.... Lord, let me be faithful to the task, and may whatever talent You've given bring you glory.

RIGHT and TRUTH

Okay, this picture is Emily during her sophomore year, and it was actually the other daughter's ballgame - Trina's ballgame - that I made the absolute fool of myself. I was just sure that mean girl had fouled our player too hard. Well, the other player DID foul. I was right. But the TRUTH was, she didn't foul any harder than the rest of the fouls happening out there on that basketball court. Sometimes our crusade for what we think is right causes us to sacrifice truth in the wake of our runaway emotions. That's what happened with the Pharisees. Throw in a little self-righteous pride, and Truth gets crucified on the Cross because they didn't stop long enough to measure their definition of RIGHT with the new thing God's Spirit was trying to speak to their hearts. Oh Lord, let it never be so with me. Let my heart always be open to Your whispers of truth as I pursue with passion those things You show me to be right.

BLAH BLAH BLAH

My little girls always loved to sit on the kitchen counter when food was being prepared. In fact, when they visit Grandma Cooley, you can still find them sitting on the counter when she fixes "big breakfast" for us.

And like a two-year-old, I often find myself chattering away at times when silence would be a much better response. I'm trying to learn the art of silence, of praying before words come out of my mouth in a volatile situation. It's a hard lesson - an ongoing skill to be honed. Lord, give me Your gift of silence in daily life and in prayer.