I'm 'expected' to write a certain message, in a certain voice. It's a message of hope, and a determination to live what life I have as a witness to God's love, and not letting cancer take my spirit, even though it takes my life.
That's a simple enough mission statement, but it can be hard to live; I'm human, and this road can be scary and disheartening.
I'll reflect that in writing, but that reflection works through the issue, and finds a reason to keep looking for the light. It's expected by my readers (and, to be honest, by my own sense of pride); this is not an all-about-me exercise in navel-gazing and catharsis.
But the funny thing is that the expectation becomes the reality, and the need to give an uplifting turn to the message lifts me.
Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) says, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:"
The expectations alter my thinking, and thus, are my rescue.
It's expected that I write
the hope I sometimes do not feel,
but the words can shine a light
and make what's forced come real.
There are times I'd like to cry
upon the shoulder of a friend,
but keeping presumed spirits high
already buts them on the mend.
There are times I would abandon
every step that leads ahead,
but then steps up my cheerful stand-in,
and I become that bloke instead.
The expectation of good cheer
can warm and dry the falling tear.
Music from The Fifth Dimension, with Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes.
Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.
Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.
Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.
Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.
(((((Andrew)))))
ReplyDeleteYou are correct.
And I tell my third grade students that there is brain research showing that listening to classical music for two minutes before taking a facts test opens up some neuron path in the brain that helps them do better. So we listen to Mozart in the Morning, and (lo and behold!) they do well! It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I so love this Andrew. Being a writer of hope, I find myself writing things not necessarily reflected in my life. My husband told me recently "You are the most hopeless person I know, your words don't match your life." Okay, I admitted it, graciously and repentantly, but I did say, "Your are right, I am hopeless, but I am hopeless with hope." Christ is my hope and in me there is no good thing. I only can boast in Him!" I know your words are from Christ in you. And mine are too. We are human with all human frailty. Let people say what they will! Christ will have the final word!
ReplyDelete