After a couple of years break, I’m back writing. Like many of you who work multiple jobs, the bookstore has kept me busy both in the store and at home. I love my job at St. Mary’s and it’s a pleasure to work double time, to work for what and who I am passionate about but I’ve missed the magic of the pen, the movement of the ink on the paper and the thoughts spilling out from my brain to the page. So I’m back in the rolling chair. Woo hoo!
I have to admit, I’m trying something new and it’s difficult. There’s a lot of reading and writing, rereading and rewriting. I don’t really know what I’m doing but it’s a challenge and it’s fun. Several weeks ago I sent the first part of my work to a friend in our writing group and she came back with brutally honest feedback; just what I wanted and needed. “You have to root through this! Thresh it out. Dig deep with each and every part. Pace is important. You’ll get it.” Ha ha. Well… maybe, I thought.
The next Sunday, dodging all I needed to do inside the house, I started cleaning out my flower beds and thinking about the advice from my friend. How will I know what to weed out and what to nourish? What parts seem so deep that they are impossible to remove? What needs taken out before it destroys everything I am trying to do?
Another very talented writer once told me that if it is worth keeping, it will stick with me even if I don’t write it down. It will be so deeply rooted in my heart that I can’t shake it. Those are the thoughts and words that need to be shared. Those are the ideas that when nourished properly spring forth beautiful work.
With all the references in Scripture of roots and weeds, I should have thought to go there first for the answers to my friend’s challenge, but, go figure, the answers came to me in the garden. How appropriate! Life for our first parents began in the garden and it’s no wonder we are drawn back there for answers. Working the soil, cleaning out the bad and nourishing the good is all a part of living in the world.
I believe the same fear that Adam and Eve experienced is the same fear that may keep us from moving forward, from letting others see who we really are, with nothing to cover or shield us. When we are rooted in Christ, when we tend to the good, when we pray instead of give in to anger and frustration, noise and confusion, or doubt and temptation, we flourish. We all know He wants us to sow good seed. He wants us to start over day after day and dig deep for all that He has to offer. And most importantly, He wants us to nurture what He has blessed us with, to multiply it and share it with our neighbors.
Seems like a lot of work. Maybe more than double time. But, God knows that when we feel those movements, when we read and write and paint and preach and teach and help to heal and use the gifts He has given to feed one another with His goodness, we move forward. At His pace. In His time. We recognize the weeds and as we remove each one by the root and replant the good, we grow and working together can help to make the world beautiful. Let’s all root for something beautiful!
Elaine Davis
Beautiful meditation; well said, Julie.
Building on your garden analogy, you might also find ways to place to the side those plants that may work in another part of ‘the garden.’
So when you cut a phrase or a paragraph from one part of your piece, just put it at the bottom for consideration later. It doesn’t make me nearly as nervous in the editing process that I’ll lose one of my little gems. 🤣 Best wishes on this Memorial Day.