The Master's Artist

I Run To You

A couple of weeks ago the worship leader and a teen aged girl sang this country song at church. They simply changed the "baby's" to "Jesus" and made it into a worship song. I'd heard the song before, but I never knew the words. I'll share them with you in a minute. First I have a confession to make:

I judged them. I sat there and listened to the intro and thought patronizing thoughts. I thought about how much I hate it when people remake a secular song into a christian one just by tacking on a few "Jesus-es". It wasn't until just today that I saw the other side of things.

Overgrowth and Pruning Shears

Sometimes you don't know where your boundaries are until you've crossed them. You don't know how much you can drink until you're drunk, I didn't know how many kids I wanted until I'd had enough...That kind of thing."Boundaries" has been a buzz-word for everything Christian and relational over the last several years, and with good reason.

Boundaries are essential. So is maintenance. In my experience, pretty much everything organic requires a little bit of both.

I have a good friend who places a high value on healthy boundaries, but he's not so fond of pruning. I know that sounds incongruous, but it's not really. He just takes a different approach. Turns out he's rather fond of overgrowth. 

I suppose there are two schools of pruning thought. One would say prune the bush down to nothing, then it will grow lush the next season. Often that's true. But what if your bush doesn't need to be cut all the way back? What if it just needs some shaping?

That's where a visionary pruner comes in pretty well handy. 

Free To Be Me

 A caterpillar's life is a fascinating metaphor in becoming. The reaching of our destiny is no small feat. Neither is figuring out if you're a moth or a butterfly.

According to science (and nature), moths spin a silk cocoon and butterflies grow a hard protective shell called a chrysalis. Before that it's pretty much impossible to tell just looking at the caterpillar, whether it will become a moth or a butterfly.

Either way, the life cycle of a caterpillar is very much like the life cycle of a writer. Hatch, eat, molt, grow, eat, molt, etc until finally, full grown, the resting stage comes. That's when the caterpillar covers itself and goes into hiding, only to emerge later, able to fly with its wings outstretched and its colors brilliant and gleaming in the sun.

Interesting that true metamorphosis happens at rest.

Meet Truly.

Write out of the darkness.
It is both where I need to go, and how I need to get there. 

But I’ve been wondering. Am I merely a composite of all the different characters floating around in my head? Or am I really someone totally different? Hidden under the rubble. Without an identity. Until I create the next one. And all this hiding and creating is the only way I can connect with and communicate with the world.

These are the questions all writers ask themselves late at night when the voices in their heads keep them from sleep and what little we do sleep keeps muting the voices. It’s a frustrating existence, but one I seem doomed to repeat.

Maybe Tom was right. Maybe the only way out is up. Maybe there will come a time when all that is in darkness will be made light, and then the weight will no longer be there. Maybe. 

At Arm's Length

I spent last night in the place of nightmares: A busy hospital emergency room during the height of swine flu season. A constant stream of people rushed for the table with the trendy little yellow face masks - the dress code of a new generation. Those who were sick wore them. Those who accompanied those who were sick wore them. Everyone looked afraid.

I was afraid as well, but not of the swine flu. I had other things to fear, like the scorpion sting my son had just gotten, which was causing a frightening combination of involuntary muscle spasms and blurred vision. I didn't wear a mask, though I was given a choice by hospital personnel. I figured if I'm the only one NOT wearing a mask, and I'm not coughing or sneezing, then I'm pretty safe, right? Besides, if I sneezed on myself, then there was only me to blame!

Fear is rampant in our culture. Fear of sickness and fear of death, but most of all, fear of exposure to sicknesses that could possibly lead to death. Unfortunately, it's made us fear one another.

A Park for a Poet

While traveling along one of the many walking and biking paths that line the neighborhoods in my community, I came across an interesting place called "Poet's Park". A smooth expanse of green in an otherwise desert landscape, Poet's Park has an interesting history.

When it was built, many of the school-aged children in the community got a chance to pick out quotes and pieces of poetry that spoke to them. They were then engraved on rocks and slabs of stone and set into the paths and walkways that wind through the park. There are quotes from Benjamin Franklin and Micheal Jordan. Some of the poetry is well known, some of it rather obscure. One thing is for sure - from stem to stern and down to the last detail, this park was filled with beauty and grace. Its designers left nothing out, and yet left almost everything to the imagination...

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

 
So yeah... Here's what I've been doing lately. In case anyone has been wondering...

If a picture is really worth a thousand words, then I'm feeling pretty long winded. Please forgive my verbosity!

Two Weeks Left To Live

What would you do if you knew you only had two weeks left to live? These days, I find myself faced with a similarly strange sort of moral dilemma. No, I’m not dying. Not all of me. Just a small part. Maybe even that’s too dramatic. It's just change. And even more than that - I guess it's how you look at it. When it comes to change, I have two basic choices: I can dread it or I can embrace it.

Embracing change…Hmm. Not the usual path. Most people fear change – even run from it. Maybe we’re on to something...

The Dangers of Overwatering

I'm what you might call a plant-killer. It's not really homicide though - more like involuntary manslaughter. In fact, if there was any premeditation going on, it'd be more like trying to convince myself that I am not going to kill this plant - not again, anyway...

I can grow herbs, and outdoor plants are mostly safe, although I've never quite gotten the hang of tomatoes. I even keep most of my annuals alive. Houseplants, however, are a completely different story. It's not that I forget to water them - usually just the opposite. I'm so paranoid about forgetting to give them what they need, I end up drowning the poor things into sad, yellow-leaved, water-logged versions of themselves.

But droughts and floods are equally dangerous. Dried up writers suffer the same fate as fat, overconfident ones who can't seem to stop speaking when the muse has shut up.

Wednesday Wrapup - February

For those of you interested in what the Master's Artists have been doing, we do a monthly Wednesday Wrapup.

Christopher Fisher: Things are going well at the Fisher household. I had surgery at the end of December and am as of last week officially off the pain meds. It's the first time I've been able to function without drugs for well over three years, so I'd say that's progress. Despite the general anxiety over the economy that I'm sure many of us have right now, I'm feeling more hopeful and happy than I have in a long, long time.

My biggest development of late is my new role as Fiction Editor at Relief: A Quarterly Christian Expression. Between reading the current round of submissions for Relief, I'm working on finishing my novel, A History of Stone and Steel, and a collection of short stories titled "Cleanliness, Godliness, and Other Fictions." My goal is to have one of these finished before the end of the summer.

Oh, I also learned by email today that I have apparently won the British Lottery. Twice!

Mary Demuth: I have a book launch for Daisy Chain at Legacy Books in Plano, TX March 1st from 3—5. http://www.legacybooksonline.com.

In conjunction with the book, I’ve launched http://blog.myfamilysecrets.org—a place for people to share their family secrets anonymously.

I’ll teach fiction techniques at The Dallas Christian Writers Guild on March 2nd. http://www.dallaschristianwriters.com.

I’ll be attending the Christian Book Expo March 19—22nd. On Friday, March 20th, I’ll be part of a Christianity Today panel: Living Christianly in a Post-Christian Culture. A Christian consensus could once be pretty much assumed for Western culture, even if many people didn’t possess personal faith. That is no longer true. Christianity is today viewed as just one of many spiritual options—and often with suspicion. How do followers of Christ respond in both word and deed? Moderator: Andy Crouch, Culture Making (IVP), editor at Christianity Today. Panelists:    * Donald Miller, Greatest Hits, Blue Like Jazz (Nelson)     * Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms (Inter-Varsity Press)     * Randy Frazee, Making Room for Life (Zondervan)     * Mary E. DeMuth, Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture (Harvest House) http://www.christianbookexpo.com/authors/panels.php#li

And at the end of the month, I’ll fly to Mount Hermon to mentor nonfiction writers at the Head Start Mentoring Clinic and teach a major morning track called Boot Camp for Writers.

And in the midst of all that, I’m finishing up the final novel of the Defiance, TX trilogy.

Madison Richards: Well, I finally have something to tell everyone, although it has absolutely nothing to do with writing! My husband has accepted a job offer in Arizona! We'll be moving from our beloved and sometimes cold and snowy Pacific Northwest to the hot and sunny Southwest. There simply aren't enough hours in a day to complete such a major endeavor in a scant six weeks, but with God's help, I'm sure we'll make all our deadlines! Our current house is for sale, we've already got an accepted offer on a house in Arizona, and things are moving pretty fast! Wish me luck!

Donna Shepherd: I'm gearing up now for another day for writers - the Greater Harvest Workshops. This is an expansion of my vision to help other writers like me who want to glorify God with their writing. I also met with the writers' group I started - MAC Writers. We've had a lot of fun and moved forward in our goals since we started meeting.

Chizzy's Topsy Tale has been released. I posted a trailer on the book page. Kevin did such an amazing job - as usual. We have Dotty's Topsy Tale coming out soon, and he's currently working on yet another one. I have a different illustrator for another book, but more information on that to come soon!

On the grownup writing front, you can read my devotionals in two books to be released in March - A Cup of Comfort Devotional for Mothers and Daughters: Daily Reminders of God's Love and Grace and A Cup of Comfort Women of the Bible Devotional: Daily Reflections Inspired by Scripture's Most Beloved Heroines. I'm also working on a manuscipt for another book.

I'm teaching a wonderful study called Living God's Will: Reading and Applying God's Signs for Your Life (Following God Character Builders). I'd recommend that to anyone for a Sunday School class, small groups, or even a midweek church service.

The sun is shining brightly outside, but I'm not fooled - it's cold..brrrr. I don't think I will have ever looked more forward to spring than this year. Seems like I'm shivering all the time. My son says it's old age, but it couldn't be that, or could it??

Til next time! - Donna