The Power of Story

Every year for as long as I remember having made goals for myself, writing has always been in the top five with regard to goals for the year.  Obviously, I feel as though it's important -important enough to always keep pushing it to the top of my priority list.  But as the year goes on, it always finds itself dropping - kind of like a spelunker making his way down the face of a mountain, bouncing from rock face to rock face until there is a gentle settling in the sand at the base.  I am passionate about it, but not passionate enough to strain and stretch the necessary muscles to keep moving toward the top of the list.

The question is why is writing so important to me? 

When I was in high school, I was basically the yearbook staff.  As both a junior and senior, I was the editor, but I was also the writer, copy editor, photographer, and graphic design person, and I loved every second of it.  I would stay after school for endless hours in the upstairs offices reserved for the yearbook and dark room.  Poor Mrs. Beekman, the faculty advisor, would be stuck at school until I was ready to call it a day, but never once do I remember her complaining. She would always hang out in her room, correcting or preparing, and always ready to drop what she was doing to converse with me.  

Anyway, that's where the flames of my passion were fanned - in those upstairs rooms.  Ever since then, I have been fanning and fanning and fanning those flamed. After all these years, I'm still waiting for the fire to take off.  But why?

Well, I love words.  I love the way they tumble together and roll around in a sentence or on a page, creating a visual landscape into which a reader is lured.  I love the way words that mean the same thing can be so different, individualistic, and distinct in eliciting a response or picture.  More than anything, I love the way words grab onto one another, linking hands, to form a bridge between expression and thought.  When a reader says, "YES!  That's exactly what it's like" to something I've written, I feel a sense of accomplishment unlike anything else.

That leads to another reason why I am so passionate about writing.  Writing is a way in which I can give voice to ideas that people have locked inside them.  I wish I had a buck for every time I have heard someone comment about the fact that they just can't find the words to say, so they are thankful for what I've written because it reflects their own experience.  They just didn't know how to say it. 

Tim O'Brien addresses this idea in his book, Things They Carry. The very last line of the novel says, "I'm skimming across the surface of my own history, moving fast, riding the melt beneath the blades, doing loops and spins, and when I take a high leap into the dark and come down thirty years later, I realize it is as Tim trying to save Timmy's life with a story."  

Words are powerful.  The more we use them to tell our stories, particularly the terrible stories, the less they have power over us.  Words can be destructive, but they can also be life-giving, and I try to concentrate on the latter and avoid the former.  

Writing also helps me to untangle that which is on my mind.  I keep a handwritten journal - and have for at least twenty years.  I also keep an online journal for work.  In each and every instance, the journals are the best problem-solving methods I have ever used.  In every situation, writing has helped me to organize, evaluate, and determine a course of action.  It is an invaluable part of my existence.  Writing is one of three ways in which I have been able to gain wisdom throughout the years (reading the Bible/prayer and finding/learning from wise people are the other two).  

But let's be real.  As humans, we are all narcissistic.  I write for selfish reasons as well.  I write for permanence.  I want to use my skills to leave a positive, useful, purposeful mark in history - most specifically, an ear-mark of faith.  

As usual, writing is in the top five of my lengthy list of goals for this year.  Whenever I write for this blog, I feel as though I need to have something pragmatic to post - something that the reader can take away for the day and mull over for growth and consideration.  

Well, I trust the process.  I trust that God will provide the words and direction when I sit and write.  If If I am diligent to put Him first in prayer and study His word, I know that He will meet me at the keyboard as well.  

This will be the year in which I untangle the events of the last five years, and most specifically, the last year, which has been equal parts the most personally painful and most personally beneficial with regard to spiritual growth.  God never wastes a hurt, and our most powerful evangelistic tool is our testimony. My story is His story, and if there is one thing I know to be true, a story is meant to be told.  

As painful as it has been, I know that there is someone out there who will say, "YES! That's exactly what it's like."  If my story can not only help Melissa save Missy's life with a story, I know it has the power to save someone else's life as well.