“In holes and lostness I can pick up the light of small ordinary progress, newly made moments flecked like pepper into the slog and the disruptions.” Anne LamottI watched The Soloist the other night and it made me think of the quote above from Anne Lamott. It made me think about all the brokenness in the world and how easy it is to be overwhelmed by it. Some of the images in the film brought tears to my eyes and made my spirit cry out, “O Lord, how long will you linger?”
Yet, as Lamott says, there are those flecks of pepper, those “newly made moments” when the light of Christ breaks through, when men and women succeed in overcoming the selfishness in their nature enough to reach out and be part of the “small ordinary progress.” Perhaps that’s why He lingers – to give us the opportunity to receive the blessings of such moments and such service.
Writing is vital in that process. Words created in obedience and submission to Christ can help to stimulate and even create those newly made moments in someone’s life. Like the young girl who was raped as a teenager who read my novel and said, “I think I finally believe that God really does love me, in spite of everything.” Small, ordinary progress, a step toward the love and light of Christ, a step toward truth.
That is why we, as believers in Christ, must keep writing, keep broadcasting the flecks of pepper God gives us. We may get discouraged by low sales, by all the changes happening in the industry. We may even be bitter because we don’t have the support we feel we should have from friends, family and even our churches. But we must fight against these barriers. We cannot quit, because it is the pepper flecks that count - the tiny specks of hope we throw out every time we write in Christ's name. Until His return.
“And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at this coming” (1John 2:28).
Yet, as Lamott says, there are those flecks of pepper, those “newly made moments” when the light of Christ breaks through, when men and women succeed in overcoming the selfishness in their nature enough to reach out and be part of the “small ordinary progress.” Perhaps that’s why He lingers – to give us the opportunity to receive the blessings of such moments and such service.
Writing is vital in that process. Words created in obedience and submission to Christ can help to stimulate and even create those newly made moments in someone’s life. Like the young girl who was raped as a teenager who read my novel and said, “I think I finally believe that God really does love me, in spite of everything.” Small, ordinary progress, a step toward the love and light of Christ, a step toward truth.
That is why we, as believers in Christ, must keep writing, keep broadcasting the flecks of pepper God gives us. We may get discouraged by low sales, by all the changes happening in the industry. We may even be bitter because we don’t have the support we feel we should have from friends, family and even our churches. But we must fight against these barriers. We cannot quit, because it is the pepper flecks that count - the tiny specks of hope we throw out every time we write in Christ's name. Until His return.
“And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at this coming” (1John 2:28).
Marcia's novel, One Smooth Stone (Winner of the Best New Canadian Christian Author Award in 2006) is available from Castle Quay Books. Her devotional book, The Spur of the Moment (winner of the Award of Merit, 2003), is about to be re-printed. See www.vinemarc.com
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