Words, words, words. As wordsmiths, we dabble, we play, we agonise, we yearn over the tools of our trade.
When we speak, our tongues can drip poison and hurt people, or our speech may be seasoned with salt to bless. There’s often little time to think about the effect of what we say. How many times do we wish we could take back the words that have left our lips?
Even bad news [read more]
Ever heard of NaNoWriMo?
It stands for National Novel Writing Month. That happens to be this month: November.
The idea is to write 50,000 words between 1st and 30th November. Lots of people all over the world take part and it sounds intense but fun.
I’ve wanted to join in for the last few years but have always been too busy. This year, however, I have a fairly free diary with no church commitments (for once)…. so I’ve registered and am at the start line.
It’s a wee bit nerve wracking, even scary, but also exciting.
I planned out my word count on the calendar. Gulp. That looks, erm, intense. I’m hoping to have one day off each week so am planning to write at least 1,925 words per day. That means 9,625 by this Saturday.
But NaNoWriMo is a writing adventure and I can’t wait to get stuck in.
I’m having a go at a young adult/children’s novel about some tiny creatures who live in a tree. They are an orphaned family called Jay, Poppy, Robin and Blu. And that’s all you’re getting for now! They have been living in my head, making their characters known for many years now, and it’s time for them to see the light of day. I have a storyline in mind but I hope my little family will go their own sweet way and surprise me with what they get up to.
If I have any spare energy, I’ll post again in a couple of weeks and let you know how I’m getting on/how frazzled I am!
It’s day ten of Lent and the word prompt is LOVE.
It reminded me of the verse that talks about keeping ourselves in the love of God, probably because I’m trying to memorise it at the moment. But it got me thinking. How do I keep myself in the love of God?
It’s rather like abiding in Christ. Sounds great. But how does it happen and what does it look like?
What is love?
When I was struggling with this a while ago, I asked Adi, ‘How do you know that I love you?’
‘Well, you tell me,’ he said, ‘You’re interested in how my day has gone. You go out of your way to do nice things for me. You’re supportive when things go wrong and I’m feeling rubbish.’
Love is words and actions.
Understanding what love looks like between Adi and me helped me begin to grasp what God’s love looks like.
At the heart of it, God’s love looks like Jesus dying for His enemies so that He could invite them to be His friends. Not that God is sad and needs us. But the Father’s heart blazes with love for the Son, whose love overflows for the Spirit, who utterly adores the Father. It was out of an overflow of red-hot, blazing love that caused God to go so such extraordinary lengths to invite me into His family.
I was nothing and He gave me worth. The Most High calls me friend.
He has given me a new heart and is growing in me love and compassion. The outworking of that is that I’ve begun to see people as He sees them. A homeless man is someone’s son. A prostitute is someone’s daughter. We are human and we have worth. Love raises up.
God gives me security.
So how do I keep myself in God’s love?
I like the way this version puts it:
But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith,
pray in the Holy Spirit,
and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life.
In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.
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