WHAT'S IN YOUR EASTER BASKET? (Freelance Friday)

I love Easter. It celebrates the day my Lord proved His power over death. It represents second chances (and 102nd chances). It represents my assurance that I will spend eternity with Jesus.

I also love Easter because I was born on Easter Sunday. Easter brought literal new life to me. Easter hops along the calendar from year to year, almost never landing on the same date twice. Without getting technical, I'll just say that I'll never have another birthday on Easter Sunday again.

But I still love the holiday. Yes, I agree that Easter has become a commercialization of one of our most sacred holy days. But that doesn’t mean those commercialized symbols still don’t mean something beneath the flash and glitzy packaging. So think about three of our top Easter symbols: Easter eggs, jellybeans and chocolate bunnies. 

• Eggs, because they represent new life. Hard boiled like us.

• Jellybeans, tiny eggs, also represent new life. And like us, they've got a hard shell on the outside and a heart of jelly inside.

• Bunnies, with their propensity to multiply also represent new life.  Chocolate outside represents our darkness; I don’t need to even comment on how the air-filled emptiness inside is like us.

In spite of commercialization, I think Jesus would love the colored eggs and jellybeans and chocolate bunnies. Would He love the goofy guy dressed up in the fake fur bunny suit and oversized pants, passing candy to the little kiddies? Yes, Jesus would love him, too. Because that's the main point of Easter.

Jesus' unwavering love for us. Unexplainable outside of His love.

So bring on the colored eggs, the jellybeans and the chocolate bunnies. Even bring on the goofy guy in the fake fur suit and oversized pants. Bring it all on. Because however we celebrate it or whether other people "get it," Easter is for everyone.

And hopefully, one day everyone will understand.

PRAYER: Jesus, thank you for the cross. Thank you for then proving your power over death. And thank you for the new life we have in you. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you have special celebrations that your family uses to observe Easter? What does the holiday mean to you?

WRITING WEDNESDAY: POKING AND PRODDING

We’re so clever. Ancient man wrote on unusual things—cave walls, dead animal skins, strips of dried papyrus. Finally we came up with the idea of smashing trees into pulp and spreading it into thin sheets we call paper.

We’ve also been clever with writing implements. We scraped coal-coated sticks on cave walls. We crushed rubies and emeralds to adorn insides of tombs. We crafted styli to gouge divots in wet clay. Animal quills were dipped in ink. Fountain pens leaked in jacket pockets. Ball point pens blobbed ink across paper. Felt pens created permanent artwork on clothing, living room walls and children’s faces. Typewriters clickety-clacked. Computers crashed. Cell phones texted.

Hold on. Back up past the computers and fancy gadgets. Back to the quills.

A quill represents a return to basics. Not as basic as coal on a cave wall. But more basic than a laptop in a coffee shop. It represents timeless writing.

A quill also comes nicely equipped with subtle implications. The feather of a quill can be teasing, ticklish, or soothing. The writing tip of a quill can be blunt, razor-sharp or gouging.

So can our words.

Words are also magical. I don’t mean hocus-pocus. I mean that our words have the power to change people. To inspire, educate and entertain. That’s why my sister website to this blog is named carolsmagicquill.com. It incorporates the aspects of returning to the basic craft of writing with the magic that words contain.

Our God is the God of miracles. The closest we can get to performing miracles is to try to create something magical. By our words, our actions and our work in this world for Him. As He works through us.

As a Christian, I realize that any talent I have for writing was a gift from God. But He didn’t give it to me for me. He didn’t even give it to me just for the benefit of other people. He gave it to me for His glory. For His purpose. For His agenda.

That’s a weighty responsibility. But with it comes the realization that I am a conduit of His glory. My writing is not about me or any publishing success I have. It’s about how He created me to shine so that others can see Him through me and so they are encouraged to shine for Him, too.

If I shine for God through my writing, He is glorified. As you shine for God through what you do, He is glorified. Turn on your heart light, friend, and let it shine.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for the talents you have blessed us with. Please show us how you want to use those gifts for your glory. Attune our hearts and minds to your plan. Help us shine for you. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Even if you’re not a “writer,” you probably write every day—emails, notes of encouragement to others. Do you ever intend to use a dove’s quill and discover later it came from a porcupine? How can you shine for God through your words today?

MEDITATION MONDAY: LIVING VERSE BY VERSE

I was all grown-up before I ever heard the term “life verse.” Folks memorized a verse from scripture that helped them focus their lives for Christ.

I wanted a life verse, too.

I soon discovered that all the really cool Christians had Philippians 4:13 as their life verse. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Yeah. I wanted that life verse, too.

But God kept getting me stuck on Philippians 4:6-7. “Do not be anxious over anything but by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace that passes understanding will fill your heart and mind with Christ Jesus.”

Hmmm…what was God trying to say? That maybe I need to worry less and trust Him more? Probably. Since I had perfected the art of taking my worries out, cradling them in my arms and whispering softly to them. Day after day; night after sleepless night.

Sigh.

Okay, so God knew best. Philippians 4:6-7 became my life verse. Over the years, I kept that verse in my heart, along with jotting it down on slips of paper tucked inside my Bible; post-its slapped on the front of the fridge, scraps taped to my computer, steam-rumpled notes sliding off my bathroom mirror. It was my life verse alright—I’d placed it everywhere, reminding me to give it up to God and let the peace flow.

A funny thing happened. As I gave my worries to God, peace DID flow. Eventually I no longer missed the holding, cradling and whispering. It didn’t happen all at once. But it happened. A little bit at a time. In the amount I was willing to give over to Him, I learned to trust Him more.

God gave me the exact life verse I needed in order to teach me something I needed to learn. The giving up and trusting still isn’t always the automatic, every-time FIRST thing I do. But at least it’s no longer the last.  

Guess what?

God recently gave me a new life verse. From the Book of Esther. Esther? He didn’t give me a Jesus quote? Or something one of the disciples said? Or—dare I hope—the “I can do all things” verse?

Nope. Esther. The one book in the Bible in which God isn’t even mentioned.

Esther 4:14 “Perhaps you have come to royal position for such a time as this.”

Royal position? Queen Carol?

No. Princess Carol. Because I’m the adopted daughter of King Jesus.

This verse reminds me that I belong to Christ. I’m bought and paid for with His blood and more than that, I belong to his family. I’m his child. His daughter. I’m a sister to other Christians. His kid. Daughter of Abba Father God.

Mighty royal position to be in. And I’d better remember that as I go through life.

This verse also reminds me that my focus should be outward. Queen Esther didn’t go to her husband the king to ask for half his kingdom or request a new tiara. She risked her life on behalf of her people. Her motive was outward—the safety and benefit of others.

As a Christian, my focus should be outward too. This verse reminds me to keep my attention on how I can love other people on behalf of the King. How can I encourage others? How can I be part of Jesus’ salvation plan? How can I use my royal position for Him and for others? Right now. Right here where I am.

I like my new life verse. I also like that Jesus took me from an inward focus on my worries to an outward focus on others. It is heart evidence of the growth in my faith.

Little by little, God is showing me that truly, I CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Maybe one day that’ll be my ”official” life verse.  But until then, I’ll focus on learning the lessons from this one. And maybe the next.

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us scripture to meditate on and learn from. Thank you for making us teachable and for not giving up on us as we stumble along in our faith. Remind us that we are your adopted children and show us how to live up to the honor of our royal position. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you have a life verse? What is it? What does it mean to you? If you don't have one, what one part of your faith do you struggle with? Might that be the focus for a life verse?

TREASURE HUNTING

Welcome to "Freelance Friday." On Fridays we'll chat about whatever. It might be a devotional. It might be about writing. It might be about kids. Or it might be about...hmmm. Stay tuned and find out.

I delight in small shiny objects.

When I go clothes shopping, I walk into the store, scope out the racks of colored fabric hanging in neat rows. If one sparkles at me, I head straight for it, like a cat pouncing on a bug.

Those of you who know me, understand that I never actually wear sparkly clothing. Nope, solid colored, button-up shirts with collars and simple slacks for me. But the clothing that attracts me glitters. Always.

I get my glitter fix with jewelry. Maybe that's the secret reason why I don't wear glittery clothing. You don’t want to overdo things, too much, right? Let the clothing be the backdrop for the jewels. Yeah, now that's classy.

It's all about the jewelry for me. And there’s a theological reason for that.

Huh?

I believe that when God created earth, His plan was to fill it with beauty. And He did. Mountains, plains, oceans, lakes, rivers, creeks, ponds and puddles. The cloud-filled sky, whether blue or gray. The grass, trees, flowers, critters. It's all a reflection of the beauty that is God.

But when God was all done covering the earth's surface with beauty that reflected Him, it still waned in comparison to His glory. Since He still had so much of His glorious beauty left, He hid some deep inside the earth.

Over time, as mankind digs deep into God's rich soil, underneath the beauty at the surface of our earth, through all the wiggly worms, the gnarly roots and crumbly dirt, we find sparkling, glittering treasures. We dig them up, dust them off and hold them up to the light, exclaiming, "beautiful!" And we call them "precious."

We name those treasures gold, silver, platinum, copper. Diamond, sapphire, emerald, ruby. They are precious to us. And they are a reflection of God's glorious, excessive beauty.

 
Yes, this is Carol's theology. But remember Jesus' parable of the man who found a treasure in the ground? He covered it back up. Then he sold everything he owned and bought the land so the treasure could be his. The treasure in Jesus’ parable was the Gospel, the priceless good news of our salvation through Christ.

Carol's parable has two meanings and I admit they aren’t as important as Jesus’. But here they are.

First these hidden treasures show how we can seek God's glory in everything around us. It is everywhere for us to see if only we take the time to look. It is in nature, it is people, it is in God’s Word.  When we find it, it is a sparkling, glittering, precious delight. And it is worth the seeking.

Secondly, these hidden treasures reflect how God has placed a sparkling, precious delight inside each of us. It is up to us, with God’s help, to dig through the dirt, past the worms and the roots and find it. This treasure is our desire to know and love Him. He placed that desire deep inside each of us.

When we recognize our need to love Him, we can let Him dust this treasure off and hold it up to the light. Our internal treasure, our faith in Christ, is a delight to Him and a sparkling light shining God's glory to the world.

It is worth the digging.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for your glory and for the reminders of your beauty around us. Please work in us so that we are a delight to you. Help us seek your treasure above all else. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? What treasures in your life do you see as God's sparkling delights?

FROM HORRIBLE FIRST DRAFT TO PERFECT ENDING

Welcome to Writing Wednesday. Each Wednesday we’ll look at the craft of writing. But Wednesdays aren’t just for writers. We’ll always bring the subject back to God.

Writing the first draft is agony. Every word has to be gouged from of my brain with a crochet hook and hauled onto the computer screen accompanied by great spasms of moaning, wailing and gnashing of teeth. For other writers, the first draft is the fun part; it’s the revision that’s anguish—trying to make the book resemble the brilliant story sparkling inside their heads.

Children’s author Bruce Coville loves the revision process. In fact, he loves it so much, he says his books only get published because they are “snatched from my quivering fingers by heartless editors.”

As writers, we know that the first draft of a book is meant to get it out of our brains and onto a paper where the words are in front of us and ready to be changed. Each writer has a different process for these revisions, sometimes starting at the global level and looking at structure or plot; sometimes starting small by cutting or expanding threads and subplots. Whatever your process and whether you like revising or hate it, it has to be done.  

Mr. Coville shared some of his thoughts about revision at a recent SCBWI conference. 

1.       He cuts out something on every page of text—maybe a word or phrase, maybe the whole page; but he always cuts something.

2.       He looks for passive voice and weakly-written sentences and turns them into strong writing.

3.       He gets rid of as many adjectives and adverbs as he can and relies instead on action verbs.

4.       Then at some point, he stops revising and declares it “good enough.”

God does the same thing with us. In the ongoing story of our lives here on earth, God continues to work on us, cutting out the bad, reworking the good; expanding our faith and increasing our understanding of Him.

Relating God’s work in us to writing,  

1.       During revision, God cuts out something on every page of our lives—the physical and the spiritual, how we think, feel and act in this world and how we think, feel and act in our relationship with Him.

2.       God looks for passivity and weakness in our lives and trains us to replace them with a desire to actively seek Him and develop strength in our reliance on Him.

3.       God seeks to rid us of the extra, unnecessary clutter in our lives and urges us to action for His kingdom.

4.       God keeps revising us until we are called home to spend eternity with Him. He brings us to the point where we are "made acceptable."

Look at Philippians 1:6 from a writerly point of view:  God “began a good work in you (His rough draft) and will carry it on to completion (God’s revisions) until the day of Christ Jesus” (God’s final draft).

We know God as the author of life. Through human hands, God wrote the “greatest story ever told.” And He spoke the universe into existence. God is the ultimate wordsmith.

As writers, we see how our stories grow better and stronger through the revision process we take them through.  God grows us better and stronger too, through the revision process He takes us through. It’s all part of His perfecting the story of our lives.

And the story will be better because of it.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for being the all-time, number 1, best-selling author of life. Thank you for the revision process you are doing in our lives. Please carry on with the revisions until the day of Christ Jesus. Let our lives reflect the story you want the world to know. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you write? Is the revision process fun or difficult for you? In what ways have you seen God’s hand revising your life and your relationship with Him?