New Season

I've entered a new season, one I've waited for all my life, it seems.  The full-time paid job has ended and I'm slowly acclimatising to retirement.  As a lay pastor in my church and a volunteer hospital chaplain, I will have busy days, but not so much ruled by the clock.  Because I am sometimes a 'driven-by-guilt' personality, it's hard for me to adapt to leisure, although I have plenty to do.

This morning I have been looking through some writing I did in the past years, from a book of writing prompts, and I have been encouraged to plan some time into my 'free' days to begin the writing I've always wanted to do seriously.  I need to start somewhere, so here is something I wrote early in 2011, when I last considered my vocation.

"What kind of writer do I want to be?  I want to be the writer that makes people laugh - and cry.  I want to be the writer that makes people forget themselves until they are part of the story.  I want to be the writer who people remember, whose books they want to - have to! - re-read, again and again.  I want to be the writer that people say about, 'Hasn't her next book been published yet?  How much longer do we have to wait for it?'  I want to be the writer whose books people queue up for from midnight to be the first to buy when they are published.



Why do I want to be this kind of writer?  Because I long for people to feel passion, to be moved, to be inspired, to resolve to do or be something they've always wanted to be, but never thought they could - until they read what I wrote.  I don't particularly want to be famous - I want to be appreciated for helping someone else the way I have been encouraged and stirred and impassioned by certain writers.  I desire that what I write should make a difference to people, to the world as a whole, and to the Kingdom of God.

My aim is to be the kind of writer whose words point people to the love of God, not only for the characters in my books, but for each reader.  I long for them to hear His voice, recognise their own longing in what they hear, and then believe in the Person of the Voice and long to get to know Him more.  And because of their discovered passion, they too will want to make a difference in their world.  In that way, I want what I write to bring glory to God, Who inspires me, Who gifted me and Who forgives my mistakes and picks me up to begin again.  He is the One Who cheers me on when it's tough going, and Who says, 'Well done!', when someone's heart is touched and changed because of His inspiration of the words He gives me to write.

Can I become a writer like that?  Only as I submit my mind, my body, my soul, my spirit and my pen to the Author, Who knows my story inside out, from beginning to end."