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Your Story Matters
We have a special Monday Meditation today, much longer than our normal writing devotional intended to encourage your faith-walk and writing. This is the Keynote Speech from our 2023 ICW Fall Gathering delivered by IDAhope Writers* founder, Angela Ruth Strong. This morning I paid a dollar to anyone who would tell me a story. Whether that was the first time you’ve ever been paid to tell a story or not, that dollar symbolizes that your story has value. I got to hear a story about the mysterious evacuation of a Goodwill store. And one about a woman whose namesake from the last century shares common similarities that sound like a…
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Better Than New
The coffee mug hung momentarily in mid-air, ultimately surrendering to gravity. The morning quiet was shattered along with my favorite mug (a not-so-ironstone cup), as fragments, shards, and coffee splattered everywhere. “What a way to start my Monday,” I muttered. Maybe you’ve had that type of experience, if not that, possibly a flat tire, a family squabble, or a dreaded phone call. Scratch that, dreaded phone calls always come at 2 o’clock in the morning.On my knees, hunched over my cup catastrophe, I simultaneously gathered the mug’s seemingly endless fragments, daubed up the coffee and fended off our curious puppy. But mostly I thought about broken stuff. All around me…
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I Want Their Career
Who wants to spend their days daydreaming at coffee shops and talking about their ideas with fans? (Especially when the misnomer of a writer’s life also includes unexpected lump sums.) Have you ever wanted the wage of a CEO but the responsibility of a middle-schooler? It’s easy to wish you had someone’s house, but not their mortgage. And it’s tempting to desire someone’s career without having to spend the years it took them to get there. Do I want their career? Sometimes I think I deserve success/pleasure/ease without sacrifice because I received salvation freely. I forget that someone else paid for it. We forget that the free cost of salvation…
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The Small Things
“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.” Luke 16:10 NLT I remember the first big party we hosted. I spent so much energy preparing, and it was a financial impact we could feel. Almost no one came. I would have done twice the work and spent twice as much if people came, ate, and enjoyed themselves. But, we wrapped up food that wasn’t designed to keep and sat down in an awkwardly clean house feeling superfluous. Some people feel destined for greatness, it’s a deep longing. But even…
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Unproductive
Maybe you are better at planning rest, but I feel like most of us mostly wait for mandatory rest, like illness. It was a loving God who scheduled a rhythm of rest in the Sabbath mandate.
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Write It Down
When you write it down to share with the Lord, he does not judge you or sever relationship. You do not need to fear his audience. It may surprise you to hear his voice gently expose what is false.
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Embrace the Not Yet
It is easy to wish you were already on the other side of something. This can happen in your writing life as well.
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Face to Face
“I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.”
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Don’t Let the Fear of Winter Steal Your Joy in Fall
“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today." Being future-focused can stifle writing.
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His Mercies are New Every Morning
I think the most important thing about mornings is the practice of starting over with a renewed source. There is something lovely about new days, weeks, seasons, and beginnings.
