In Pursuit of Words - Wegner

I wrote this blog three days ago because I knew I’d never get it done today. I worked hard on it and wondered how everyone else came up with pieces that were so much better than mine, in spite of all my Eight Step Self Editing (my forever thanks to Jim Taylor!).

Today, just before posting this, I read the heartbeat of some of the best writers I know and I was taken aback to hear how they struggle with the same issues I do. I shared their pain and sincerely thank them for their honesty.

Now that I’ve confessed my similar frustrations, here’s what I wrote on Saturday:
What is it about words that so ensnares a writer? Why can’t we be content with “he was” or “she said”? What makes us such sleuths of depiction?
I suspect there are psychological or emotional triggers that first set us on our track but what drives some of us to pursue this relentless urge to record stories? For the writer who is Christian, God is the ultimate Reason, the Shepherd of our valleys and the Author and Finisher of the faith we long to best depict and describe.

And description and depiction are what we are all about. After all, who but a writer, in heart or in action, delights in the gift of a dictionary? To whom else but a crafter of words would a verb be considered “delicious”? And who but a writer would bother with these questions!

The answer to these issues, in my opinion, is linked to the breathing of God upon our hearts and minds. Whenever God determined to convey a message to His people, He moved someone to take up the pen: “Write these words,” “write them on the tablet,” “write them on their hearts,” he commanded then took up His own quill, “I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.”

As writers who are Christian, our mission to assemble letters and words into life-giving messages by seeking the Spirit’s help - even in finding that illusive, perfect, word. Although the pulpit we have been awarded is global and our responsibility, universal, it’s easy to forget (especially when we struggle for affirmation and a publisher) that this is no mean calling.

In summary it is divine will that drives us to letters and words and communication. In the simplest but most profound explanation I know - to write is to obey the calling of God on our life.

Whether in editing a column, preparing a church bulletin, or reporting the news of a company merger, we take up the pen at His command, we write under His umbrella and we chase words to His delight…and all the while, giving thanks to God for Roget and Webster! PS: …even as we struggle.