Why I write

Today I am thankful for friends who have offered ongoing encouragement during my often sporadic journey with words. Currently I am writing prolifically, having received some sort of new lease on life – or release – in the past little while, but at times my pen is motionless for months. I try and send at least one thank you letter per week, and the following words were penned to my island girl friend (currently on vacation) whose presence across the Pacific Ocean inspired me to write:

Even though you may read these words weeks from now, I want to gather my wandering thoughts into a safe place: a place where they are corralled and captured and where they are more or less permanent, despite the vagaries of cyber-mail. Telling a trusted (and trustworthy) friend something important may also help clarify these thoughts.

So here we are then: I am a writer. Not, “I want to be a writer when I grow up” (although I do), but I am. A writer. Today. Writers write. I write.

I have the following (sometimes dubious) talents with which to work, and on occasion I may even use a few God-given gifts:

I love words. (No doubt this has come to your attention in the past ten years.) I am fascinated by the way sounds are strung together to craft word-pearl sentences. Or even jewelled fragments.

I appreciate the ability to pay attention. Almost every day I hear the sweet sounds of nature, of animals, of people and of music. I want to describe what I hear, what I see, what I feel. I want others to see the world through my eyes (is that narcissistic?) and to experience the earth’s (super)natural beauty deep in the core of their souls.

I want readers to know the joy, the radiance, the delight in living that I know (and as I write these words, I am well aware that not all created beings know the Creator’s intrinsic joie de vivre). Life is achingly beautiful, even when it appears not to be. I want to attempt to bring back a little of that lost joy, innocence, wonder. (This is the primary reason I write stories for children of all ages.) Life is a gift; I want readers to unwrap it.

My aim is that my words may point upwards; that my readers may lift their thoughts – their sighs, their questions, their longings, their pain, their praise – heavenward. I long to write words that lead others to wholeness, shalom. To contentment in Christ. To inner peace. Truth. Love.

And I believe in the free will to use the gift of creativity (given to each of God’s image-bearers) to glorify the Creator. “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 1, 1648). My fervent desire is to point others to His fingerprints in the world around us.

How to do all this, my friend? Only God knows. May He help us all.