Wednesday, December 25, 2013

A Writer's Writings

   When I was a little boy, I never wrote. I never wanted to write. I never really had much of an identity, at least not that I could identify. I was an echo, of sorts. Just another raindrop in a storm, a single snowflake in December. I don't remember when I started to write, though I think it was overdue. Now, you know, the more I write on this blog (and of course in my own little books), the more I realize just why I am writing it at all. There is a lot that gets put down to writing simply because it is a blockage that needs cleared. Those thoughts are just for me. Then, I started writing for other people. Or so I thought...it seems that when I write for others, I am also writing for myself, just in a different way.

Side point. Have you ever tried writing a letter to yourself? Try it. Be brutally honest. For example:
"Trevor, if this means you must travel, then go on a journey with only a bag on your back and a map in your heart. The road goes even on, and you must follow it if you can, even if you shouldn't expect where it may lead. In all things, stick to Jehovah, and the road will always be bright, even though it rains every so often."

   Moving on. Here are my thoughts. Some write to communicate. Letters, emails, etc. I've done it. You've done it. Others might try to keep journals to express their emotions or to get a clearer understanding of a situation. People all over the world write. Aha, but I ask: "What is a writer?"
   Would you agree with me if I said that the fact that people write doesn't make them writers anymore than pouring a bowl of cereal makes someone a chef? Something more is needed to be considered a 'writer'. This is where that alphabetical representation of lettering comes into play. By putting thoughts down to paper, they are given a physical form. Letters become vessels for thought.
  This being the case, to be a writer, isn't it more accurate to call oneself a thinker? Not in a cursory sort of understanding of the word, though, for just as not all who write are 'writers', then not all who think are 'thinkers'. It goes deeper than that. I believe that a true thinker, a true writer, is one who explores. One who uses a pen, or a pencil, or a brush, or whatever it may be to delve deeper; to see what is too far to be seen, to wander off the edge of the world. A writer is one who gathers material from life itself, and who seeks such wanderlust...seeks to become lost in all that is beautiful and terrible in the world.

   Maybe some write to be read, and others write to discover, and discover to write. It is for this that I write. No, never will anything that I record contain a Plato inspired epiphanitical (Custom word again) statement, and I am sure that my letters will never inspire or motivate as the classical writers of ole. I didn't start to write to be read. I kept them locked away, like it was a diary or something. The more I read of others, though, the more I wanted to write, and eventually share. Which brings us here. Therefore, as you continue to read this or not, you are getting a little peek into the innards of me. You have been warned.

   Writing with Jehovah in mind, with my spirituality held in my heart as well as my pen, has helped me see that we have to make the best out of any situation, to learn how to fight pain with a different set of eyes than before. We learn to face up to the facts like a spiritual man/woman. Learn to hurt like an adult, and to learn how to learn from that hurt. Ask me why, and I'd tell you that we're different as Jehovah's people. We're not the type to shrink back, to break without healing, or to give up. Even Hemming way said that a man was not made for defeat, and that he can be destroyed but not defeated. Scripture, writings from fellow brothers, and even my own writings helped me see that we're stronger than that. Jehovah has made us stronger than that. Sometimes its okay to lie down for today. But tomorrow, we have to get back up. Keep giving. Keep struggling to do good by Jehovah. Don't have any regrets, and don't look back at what has to stay in the past. Learn what we can from it, and march on. That is what this blog is about. Not just my blessings of need greating, or my Bethel service.
   This blog is about life, in all its totality.