WRITER: A person who writes
To Be Holy:
I must center my whole life around God, around His Son, around the Holy Spirit.
Life is not about me. Not about my issues, my desires, my possessions or lack of them. What I write does not focus on me. Stories, articles, blogs, and journals--all point to our Creator and King, our Savior, our Comforter, our Lord.
How can I do this? What must I learn?
I must ask God to grant me a deep hunger and thirst for Him.
I must practice spiritual disciplines.
Not all at once, of course! If I'm not to be overwhelmed, I can only work on one discipline at a time.
Just as I must persist in the practice of certain skills for physical health--a nutritious diet and daily exercise, spiritual health requires persistent practice of a parallel set of skills--prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with others of faith.
I need close friendships with mature Christians. As a writer, I need to seek mentors who are wise, Christian authors. Their experience helps me. Meanwhile, my starry-eyed view of writing refreshes them, even as they shake their heads and say, "You have a lot to learn!"
I must wait. Rest in God. Surrender. Let Him work on me. If I exhaust myself by trying too hard in my own puny strength, I'm like a hamster on a wheel. Faster, faster, faster--and I've gotten nowhere.
I must do the work of the kingdom. Faithful. Serve wherever He shows me a place to serve.
Faith + Love in action = Holiness.
In these days of the national shutdown, Americans are finding new opportunities to share their faith. But we don't need a crisis to spur us to love in action.
Maybe God will use my writing skills to send an encouraging note to someone who needs a lift. Maybe I'll walk away from the computer and cook a meal or weed a garden for my neighbor. Maybe love in action is invisible like holding up a friend in prayer. As I practice spiritual disciplines and obedience to the Holy Spirit, I am better able to hear Him. And obey.
There's More.
I've shared my reflections as a writer trying to live a holy life, but I want the heroes and heroines in my books to live holy lives, too. For every story I write, before I submit it to my agent or a publisher, I check: Do my main characters grow in the Spirit somehow, some way? When they grow in faith and demonstrate love in action, they will inspire my readers to do the same. Amen.
Linda Sammaritan writes realistic fiction, mostly for kids
ages ten to fourteen. She is currently working on a middle grade trilogy, World Without Sound, based on her own
experiences growing up with a deaf sister.
Linda had always figured she’d teach middle-graders until
school authorities presented her with a retirement wheelchair at the overripe
age of eighty-five. However, God changed those plans when He gave her a growing
passion for writing fiction. In May of 2016, she blew goodbye kisses to her
students and dedicated her work hours to learning the craft.
A wife, mother of three, grandmother to seven, Linda regales
the youngest grandchildren with “Nona Stories,” tales of her childhood. Maybe
one day those stories will be in picture books!
Where Linda can be found on the web:
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