Did you notice the music?

“The Oscar for best Original Score goes to..”

“The best Original Song goes to....”

“The best Cinematography goes to... “

“The best Production Design goes to....”

At the recent Academy Awards event, viewers listened to all of the above statements as the Oscars were given out.  However, many individuals would say that they have little or no interest in these categories.  Most of us only want to know who will win best actor/actress, supporting roles and picture of the year. The producers of the evening are aware of our bias and therefore hold us in suspense as long as possible before revealing our favourite awards.

Music, screen sets and photography, when done well, are imperceptible. However, they focus the eye through the camera lens, move us emotionally with lyrics or melodies and provide context for the script and actions. Without these valuable background features, films would be flat and forgettable.

This illustration can be applied to other areas of our life.

In communication it’s often the ‘how’ of saying something that impacts us more than the ‘what’. “I won’t remember what you said, but how it made me feel.” Body language or the non verbal is what makes up ninety percent of the message.

When introducing change, the existing climate or environment will determine success and outcomes; like the water in a fish tank—if it’s not treated, the fish will die.

Written stories also require music/sound, photography/focus and staging/setting to engage the reader.  Next time you watch a movie, notice these invisible, but essential, components and imagine how you can recreate them in your writing; let’s think like directors with our/His script.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Eph. 2:10 (NIV)

I welcome your comments on the topic.

Carol Ford, Speaker, Career Coach, Author

A short story about my first Christmas in my adoptive home will appear in Christmas with Hot Apple Cider, October 2017. I'm co-author of devotional entitled: As the Ink Flows: Devotions to Inspire Christian Writers & Speakers (shortlisted for 2017 awards). To learn more about Carol Ford go to: https/carolfordassociates.wordpress.com

Three Steps to Unleash a Creative Mind-by Heidi McLaughlin

“I’m going to build a raft, and then I can float it across the lake.”  My ten-year-old grandson Austin’s face brimmed with excitement as he envisioned the possibility of this grand adventure.  He could hardly finish his sentences as he sputtered: “And then I’m going to…and then…and then.” His joy was contagious.

The rest of the family got back on their bikes to return home, and Austin led the pack, eager to begin his new project.  There is a little forest in the back of my daughter’s house and sure enough Austin dragged out 3 small logs, just the right size for a raft.  Add some rope, a stick and a garbage bag for a sail, and his dream became a reality.  Only one hitch. How do we get it to the lake and make it float?

Austin was determined to find a way to float on his beautiful creation, and my heart sank as I watched his carefully executed plan fall apart.

His enthusiasm for this project was vibrant and I envied the energy and untapped creativity in this young lad.  Oh I needed some of that enthusiasm and focus.  So how can we unleash that zeal in our lives when at times the creative well runs dry?

Here are my 3 thoughts:

1.         Get a different perspective.  Hike, bike, drive or fly to an area you’ve never visited before.  An unfamiliar creation will inspire new creativity.   A fresh landscape, new art, varied music, food or culture is sure to inspire new thoughts and get your heart pumping for diverse ideas.

2.         Remove distractions. Once Austin had his idea, he was laser beam focused to build the raft and nothing could sway his plan. As adults we are bombarded with too many demands and noise.  Yet when our souls and mind are at rest, we can hear the sounds in our head that want to tell us a new story. 

3.         Be fearless. Austin’s plan bombed.  We couldn’t get the raft to the lake never mind making it float. Yes, he was disappointed, (I was more disappointed than he was) but he didn’t say: “I put all this energy into this raft and it doesn’t work.  I’m never building anything again.” No, he shook it off and was eager and ready for his next adventure.

Perhaps we’ve had too many disappointments, been rejected for our ideas or we’re simply too tired.  God, who is the ultimate creator of the universe and mankind, has made us in His image.  Because of that mysterious and miraculous master plan, on this side of heaven our creativity will never run out.  You never know, maybe like Tom Sawyer, your raft will float.

(That's Austin with his head in the well)

Heidi McLaughlin lives in the beautiful vineyards of the Okanagan Valley in Kelowna, British Columbia. Heidi has been widowed twice. She is a mom and step mom of a wonderful, eclectic blended family of 5 children and 12 grandchildren. When Heidi is not working, she loves to curl up with a great book, or golf and laugh with her family and special friends.

Her latest book RESTLESS FOR MORE: Fulfillment in Unexpected 

Places (Including a FREE downloadable Study Guide) is now available at Amazon.ca; Amazon.com, Goodreads.com or her website: www.heartconnection.ca

The One Who Defines Us by Claudia Loopstra

I looked at the long line up of people. The room held the fragrance of an assortment of freshly cut flowers. Most of them were arranged in vases; not in the usual way with floral baskets reminiscent of an impending funeral.

As a familiar looking man dressed in a business suit approached, he extended his hand to me and offered his condolences. We then began a conversation about my brother-in-law, who had passed away at the age of sixty-six from multiple myeloma. Diagnosed a mere six weeks before he died, our family was left reeling from his sudden death.

"Larry was dedicated to his profession and to his patients," I said, as I began to relate the story of how Larry  had informed his staff that he had to close his medical practice immediately. "His wife told me he'd cried."

It took me off guard when the man said, "Well...it was his profession that defined him."

You know nothing about Larry, I thought. He was not defined by his profession or by his financial status, academic standing, his parenting or his marriage. I knew the man meant well, but I also knew he was wrong.

The person soon moved on down the line, but I remained troubled by his comment. I was aware that Larry's profession had meant a great deal to him--that he was well-respected in his field. But that was not what defined him.

At one point during the evening visitation, a young doctor approached me. It seemed she had mistaken me for Larry's widow. As she took my hand in hers she said, "Larry's influence made me a better person". Tears trickled down her cheeks. At that moment, I didn't have the heart to tell her that I wasn't Dr. Loopstra's wife.

The message at Larry's funeral, the following day, was taken from Galations 5:22, 23. God's word, in part, defined who Larry was as he had lived by the Spirit. His life reflected love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control ...not perfectly as it is known by believers that our sinful nature prevents it. But, when we are in Christ, through his blood we are cleansed; therefore we, as believers, are not defined as the world would define us. It's by God's grace we are who we are.

Our worth is never found in what we do but rather in who we belong to. No matter what our failures or successes may be, we can rest in that knowledge.

See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1John 3:1


Claudia Loopstra is a speaker, writer and author. As well as having several short stories and articles published she, along with four others, co-authored and published As the Ink Flows: Devotions to Inspire Christian Writers and Speakers. Her memoir Redemptive Love: Living with an Alcoholic Father was published in 2015.
www.claudialoopstra.com

An Enriched Life by Ruth Smith Meyer

After almost a year’s pause in opportunities for such, I had two opportunities for speaking engagements in two weeks.   Since the past year has been one of adjustment after the death of my second husband, I wondered how it would go. I needn’t have worried.  It felt good to be once more sharing from my growth.

This also gave me opportunity to pause and reflect on the changes writing has brought to my life in the last fifteen years. Writing in a more intentional way was a dream I had from childhood.  After the death of my first husband, I began with an assignment for a week’s worth of devotions for the REJOICE! magazine.  When I had good response from those, I ventured out with a few magazine articles then with a burst of courage, began working on a novel that had been percolating for a few years. 

That was an entirely new undertaking.  I will always be grateful for the help and coaching I got through several avenues—The Word Guild, WRITE conferences and Ray and Anna Wiseman. The writing was a joy.  Even the editing and rewriting and rewriting I found rewarding.  The folks at Word Alive were very helpful in the process.  I was happy for the relationships built in during that time.  

I wasn’t young any more, but I was a newbie where publication and selling of books was concerned. I was nervous, awed and elated when the first shipment of Not Easily Broken actually arrived on my doorstep.   As many writers, I enjoy writing more than selling, but it is part of who a writer has to be.  I began with a book launch, then took opportunities at bazaars, church and public events where I could display my book and sell some. 

Much to my surprise, my writing also was the means of fulfilling another childhood dream—

one I thought to be unattainable. That dream was to be an inspirational speaker. In the church of my childhood, women speaking in public was not a possibility.  However, people began asking if I would come and speak about some issues in my book and then make the book available to those in attendance.

Not Far from the Tree, a sequel to my first book, was published a few years later, then Tyson’s Sad Bad Day.   The latter was another new experience, for it branched into children’s literature and stretched my horizons as I toiled over illustrating the story. Each book its own way, continued to urge me to keep growing. Yes, growth can be painful, but it is also most satisfying.  

Being involved in the Hot Apple Cider anthologies, was also a growing experience. My Ready Writers group in London had already helped me appreciate good editing and those series did more of the same.  NJ Lindquist and Wendy Nelles encouraged me to keep tweeking my contributions until they were all they could be.  It makes me proud to be part of these books. 

Out of the Ordinary was another new experience.  My own life happenings, first meant for only family, then shared with the larger public, opened a whole other level of connection.  At first I felt quite vulnerable, but soon found a depth and richness to the relationship I developed with my readers. 

It was through writing and being a part of our Ready Writers Writer’s Group and the Hot Apple Cider Series that I met Ruth Coghill and had the opportunity to be on her radio program. 

Good Grief People, too has touched my own heart and those of readers in a different way than the other books. Again, my world has been enlarged and I give thanks. 

Every time a speaking opportunity comes along, I meet more individuals and get to hear their stories as well. And that’s where the third dream of my childhood is fulfilled—meeting a lot of people, getting to know them, understand them and to hear how their lives were lived. I do love people! ☺

Finding out that readers identify with the characters in my stories or with the tales of my childhood provides an instant connection. It makes me feel close to them. To hear that my writing has encouraged readers to reach for their best, to have the courage to share their growth, or to face some challenge is such a thrilling reward.  

Writing certainly has enriched my life. As long as God gives me the ability to do so, I shall continue. If I can encourage some others to write, the benefits will go on. 

Wisdom from William Shakespeare--Carolyn R. Wilker

In his time, William Shakespeare, poet and playright, knew a thing or two about the stage, but his work covered many areas of life. Biography.com says “over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote plays that capture the complete range of human emotion and conflict.”

Besides his plays, poems and sonnets, other official documentation of his life come from church and court records. Of his education, there is little information, leaving historians to surmise where he attended school, and others to doubt how he could write so prolifically and so well. There were other historians who supposed his works to be the product of other men. Yet the grammar schools at the time taught about the arts, so he may have had a good educational base. Sources that affirmed his work included the Queen’s court where Shakespeare and his fellows performed.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts

His acts being seven ages.

By the late 1590s Shakespeare was selling his plays, though selling his plays and acting didn’t comprise the main part of his income. James Shapiro wrote in his book, The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, that Shakespeare collaborated with others early in his career, and on five of his last ten plays.

Unlike plays now that are repeated night after night for a period of time, Shapiro said in his online video at the site, that Shakespeare’s patrons expected a new play every day. Shapiro calls the schedule an exhausting one. Shakespeare read and wrote late into the night, all without the benefit of caffeine or tea, neither of which had been introduced to England at the time. He and his men would rehearse the next morning, then they would present the new play later that day.

 The biography states further: “What seems to be true is that William Shakespeare was a respected man of the dramatic arts who wrote plays and acted in some in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. But his reputation as a dramatic genius wasn't recognized until the 19th century.”

Shakespeare would have known grief too, as everyone does at some time or other of life. One of his children, a son, died at age 11. The biography at this site only states the fact. Perhaps this was the time he wrote: “Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break.”

This particular biography doesn’t deal with his faith, but it shows that he was baptized, returned home from London during the 40 days of Lent when the theatre was closed, and that he was buried at the church and his death recorded there. Perhaps another biography would tell more.

What can writers today learn from Shakespeare? Probably about his persistence. He kept at it, working at other jobs, staying close to the theatre scene, learning and continuing to write until he’d written enough that people took him seriously.

If God puts it on your heart to write, then keep on writing. Though you have family and another job to pay bills, find a way to get your words written. Submit your work and follow through. And may your words bless others.

Green Thumb Writers by Steph Beth Nickel

First published on the InScribe Christian Writers' Fellowship blog, June 3, 2017.

Remember the colour wheel your art teacher used in high school? If you forget what it looks like, you can check it out on Google images—which is what I did.

See that pretty green segment? Go straight across from it and you’ll discover red on the opposite side of the wheel. That’s the colour of my thumb—at least in the area of gardening.

How can we defend the right to think for ourselves? You need true grit and a thick skin - Denyse O'Leary

My latest at MercatorNet: Political correctness goes beyond organized lying; it is teaching a whole generation to silence alternative ideas and increasingly to use muscle as well as intimidation to do so.

Consider one recent incident. Anti-jihad activist Robert Spencer was poisoned in Iceland. After giving a talk on Islam which was harshly criticized in the media, he went to a restaurant. A “fan” of his work approached him and quietly laced his drink with Ritalin mixed with the party drug Ecstasy.
He ended up in hospital and the Reykjavik police are investigating.

Spencer’s account of his trip to Iceland reveals a concerted effort by almost of all media there to prevent him from being honestly heard and evaluated. They were not concerned about news but about the suppression of news, presumably in the interests of a social goal to which they think news-gathering should be sacrificed.

His experience was political correctness on a glass slide under the microscope. If Spencer’s concerns are justified, how would Icelanders know? Not through their media.

Here are five suggestions for reclaiming our right to think for ourselves: More.

Grace-Space

Last week I had coffee with a friend, and when we stood to leave she apologized for the pants she was wearing.

            “I wear these all the time. They’re my default.”

            “I have the same pair,” I said. “I like mine too.”

She had been wearing those stretchy black pants. You know the ones. We all have a pair. We could live in them 24/7. Dress them down for housecleaning or lounging. Dress them up for coffee with a friend or even a night out.  

My friend had just come through a difficult time of family-drama. No wonder she was ready for those comfy pants with the elastic waistband. She needed some grace, some breathing room.

God knows we need elastic - better known as grace. We are not perfect. We are weak; we struggle; we give in to temptation; we hurt others. And God rescues us. And not with just any kind of grace, but grace with a two-way stretch. While God’s grace is wide, like that wide waistband, it is also deep and high, and He invites us to dive in. Ephesians 3:18 describes the vastness of God's love:    ". . . the love of the Anointed is infinitely long, wide, high, and deep, surpassing everything anyone previously experienced" (The Voice). 

King David describes the depth and width of God’s kindness in Psalm 103:11 and 12:  

            As high as heaven is over the earth,

            so strong is his love to those who fear him.

            And as far as sunrise is from sunset,

            he has separated us from our sins (The Message).

How high is heaven over earth? Scientists say that our universe is ever-expanding! And what about the width of his mercy – has anyone ever measured the distance between sunrise and sunset? Is it not an eternal circle? Is God telling us that His mercy is vast and immeasurable? That His kindness knows no end?

The Psalmist said of God’s path that it was broad and easy to walk upon: “You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way” (Psalm 18:36).  He reminds us again later in Psalm 31:8, “Thou hast set my feet in a large room.”

While we know that broad is the path to destruction and narrow is the gate to eternal life (Matthew 7:13,14), King David also knew that walking in obedience to God provided wideness, soul-freedom, and liberty.

The wide-open fields of the Enemy are not wide and free as we might think. They are a maze of constantly changing “right and wrong”. Our footsteps are never sure or confident when there are no absolute standards! Living in relativism causes confusion, insecurity, and fear (Isaiah 33:15; Romans 7:11; Psalm 36).

However, the walls of God’s Kingdom are widely-set, so spacious in fact that we have room to run and dance, and space to fall and make mistakes. We feel secure inside His protective barriers, inside His grace-space. 

Instead of the simplicity of grace, Pharisees dressed in layers of law-keeping and the high-fashion of religiosity. It could not have been comfortable. There was never any wiggle room for somebody to make a mistake, to struggle, to fall. Jesus condemned their rigid judgmental attitudes. “The Law and the Prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it” (Luke 16:16, emphasis mine). His grace extended to tax-collectors, prostitutes, and indeed everyone that recognized their need.

Jesus frees us from the chains of sin and the law, to live a new life of obedience to Him. “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you” (Galatians 5:1, The Message).  

Does that mean we can live how we want? I love the way Eugene Peterson puts it in the Message:

“So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom! (Romans 6:15-18: emphasis mine).

We have all blown it. We all need grace, everyday. Like those stretchy black pants, God’s grace covers us in the stress and rigor of everyday life, but His garment is also beautiful enough to enter the throne room of our King (Hebrews 4:16).   

Why go around wearing the latest style of self-righteousness? All the frippery of ritzy rules and pretentious policies only serves to weigh us down, make us itchy, and restrict our movement. Step into the robe of Jesus’ goodness instead (Isaiah 61:10), and enjoy the depth and width of His mercy. Extend the same kindness to others. We all need His eternal, elastic, grace-space. Everyday.

The lyrics of Frederic Faber’s hymn (1854) speak about God's two-way stretchy grace. Click on the link below and listen if you like:
  There's a Wideness in God's Mercy

Pamela Mytroen takes inspiration from the never-changing bedrock of God's Word, and the ever-changing skies and seasons of Saskatchewan. The tenacity of her English students, and the diverse cultures they represent, challenge her comfortable life and have informed many recent stories. She loves a tall Norwegian farm boy who has tried teaching her how to hunt, call coyotes, and check the gas gauge. Their four children and two grandchildren, LadyBug and Sir Cricket, offer a steady supply of sweet words which she unabashedly plagiarizes, and tucks into short fiction, blogs, human-interest pieces, and devotional writing.