Finding the God-thread

As my mother and father prepare to move out of state, I find myself looking back at old memories a lot lately, so I've been writing...

"But examine everything carefully; 

hold fast to that which is good;" 

~ 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (NASB)
 

"Be still, and know that I am God;" 

~ Psalm 46:10a (NIV)

Our lives are like a tapestry, the threads skillfully woven together to create a unique work of art.  Among the threads we are able to see ourselves, the people that surround us everyday, and God, The Tapestry Maker, Himself.  Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”   This bold statement implies that we are unable to grow toward greater understanding of our true nature unless we take time to examine and reflect upon our life.  The writing process can help us examine ourselves more closely, allowing us to see our life tapestry and the God-thread that shapes it with faith, hope, and love. 
 
Sometimes His threads are easy to see while at other more turbulent times they are the underlying threads, naked to the human eye, prompting our doubt to ask, “Where is God?” Finding the God-Thread is about taking a deeper look at every life story we write in order to “see” God.  Perhaps He was in the ray of sunshine that brightened your dark day.  Perhaps He was in the arms of a friend that knew you really needed a hug.  Perhaps He was in the lesson you learned from a difficult experience developing your sense of perseverance and character.  Regardless of the situation, He is always there.  Faith allows us to see the God-thread of hope woven throughout each life experience.     
 
Just remember, we’re all flawed.  Everyone has darker moments. No one leaves this life unscathed. We screw up. We shame ourselves. Tragedy happens. We've all suffered physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual hurt.  And yet not every story is for public consumption. You don't get points for pulling skeletons out of the closet and rattling them in your unsuspecting readers' faces. But the main goal of the writing process is to learn. If you learned something that might help someone during difficult times, it might not hurt to share.

Sharing God Stories

“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”

~ Frederick Buechner Now and Then: A Memoir of Vocation

I put together a class on sharing our God stories and the material focuses on the craft of writing. But finishing the class with a life's manuscript that's polished and well written is not the point. A friend of mine once said, “It's about the process, not the product.” Yes, excellence is important, and we should take pride in our work. But there's a danger in getting so focused on how perfect the finished product appears that we forget to enjoy the process that got us there. Writing is a process, a journey that allows us to disentangle and deconstruct our thoughts with a depth than mere spoken words can't provide.

They say that reading makes a better writer. I've done the reading:

Anne Lamott Bird by Bird: “Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul.”

Stephen King On Writing: “The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.”

Annie Dillard The Writing Life: “Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.”

Dan Allender To Be Told: “Fasting from any nourishment, activity, involvement or pursuit—for any season—sets the stage for God to appear. Fasting is not a tool to pry wisdom out of God's hands or to force needed insight about a decision. Fasting is not a tool for gaining discipline or developing piety (whatever that might be). Instead, fasting is the bulimic act of ridding ourselves of our fullness to attune our senses to the mysteries that swirl in and around us.”

The list goes on. The library shelf of life is filled with many great authors, but at some point, you have to set the books aside long enough to start writing. I wrote a class on writing to teach others how to find their voice, because every one has a story just waiting to be shared. You were made with purpose and glory. It's time to stop hiding your light. Let it shine. You have a story that's worth telling. What are you waiting for?

So tell me, what's your story?