A Step in the Write Direction--August 13, 2012

A Step in the Write Direction

August 13, 2012

Update:

Today, August 13, 2012, my husband and I celebrate our 52^nd anniversary—and celebrate is the word as I’ve nearly lost him 12 times: a heart attack, 4 heart surgeries, diabetes, 3 fractured vertebrae (at different times), back surgery, broken hip, and double pneumonia, plus pernicious anemia, ankylosing spondylitis, and car accident (as a driver’s license examiner in which the driver taking the road test died of a heart attack). Can you see why I’m celebrating?!

Thought for Today:

In the 1988 Olympics, the world assumed that the United States would be victorious in the 400-meter relay. They simply were the best. The gun cracked and they were off and running. After the last curve the unthinkable happened. The United States was ahead by 10 meters with no real competition in sight. And then, with victory in their grasp, it happened. They dropped the baton. The thousands in the stands gasped in disbelief. The United States team—sleek, muscular, and fast as leopards, lost the race. Why? Someone dropped the baton. I would hate for us as a church [writer!] to be the people who dropped the baton. What is God calling us to be and to do as God's people in this time and this place? It's not a question of resources but a question of faith. (King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com)

Laugh for Today

An atheist was walking through the woods. ”What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!” he said to himself. Walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. As he turned to look, he saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him. He ran as fast as he could up the path, but the bear closed in on him. He tripped and fell on the ground. Rolling over to pick himself up, he saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him. At that instant the atheist cried out, “Oh my God!”

The bear froze. The forest was silent. And as a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. “You deny my existence for all these years and teach others I don't exist. Do you expect me to help you now? Am I to count you as a believer?”

The atheist looked directly into the light. “It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the bear a Christian.”

”Very well,” said the voice.

The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. The bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head, and spoke: “For this food which I am about to receive, may the Lord make me truly thankful, Amen.”

Time Management Hints, continued

9. Learn to Say No

There is nothing wrong with church, school, and community involvements, but what

takes precedence in your life? Do these jobs crowd out what God wants you to do? My

mother used to say that God sometimes takes away the good so He can give us His best.

We can keep saying yes to so many things we enjoy doing that we end up not having

any energy left over for what God has called us to do.

Jan Johnson said that she kept committing herself to projects that left her feeling

empty. “I grew afraid,” she said, “that I would wake up at the end of my life and wonder

why I hadn’t accomplished my dreams—or even attempted them.”

Don’t be afraid to say no. Don’t feel guilty when you say no. And don’t feel you have to defend yourself. For years, whenever someone asked me to do something, I responded with a long list of my “to do’s.” It was almost as though I felt I had to justify my reason for saying no, and was too embarrassed to tell them I wanted to write. One evening I turned down a typing customer, telling the caller I had another job. “I didn’t know you had work to do for someone,” my husband commented when I hung up. “I don’t—for someone else,” I replied. “I plan to write tonight. That’s a job!”

Say no to something this week that SOMEONE ELSE can do so you can do what God has called YOU to do!

***

“We are called to write, and I feel we will be held responsible at the Judgment for the people that we could have helped but didn’t because we didn’t write what God laid on our hearts to write” (Harold Ivan Smith).

 

Donna Clark Goodrich

www.thewritersfriend.net
"A Step in the Write Direction--the Complete How-to Guide for Christian Writers"