Some Thoughts on the Book of Jeremiah

    I've been reading the book of Jeremiah in the Bible lately. Fifty-two chapters seemed like a lot at first, but it's gone by surprisingly quickly.
    And man, is it an interesting read! A divine call, prophecies about an invasion, prophecies about the Messiah, various reigns of kings, betrayal, promises of redemption. These are just a few major things about the book, and there are lots of others as well.
    -Jeremiah himself is an interesting factor to begin with. Sometimes called "the weeping prophet," we get to see other shades of his personality and his emotions as he goes through a 20+ year-long ministry. He grieves for his nation, yearns for his people to turn back to the true God, but he also gets really angry once or twice when persecutors seriously wound him. But even when he seems to be seething with humiliation and pain, he doesn't lose his temper at the people or yell at God. Instead, when he goes to the Lord with his problems and pain, he respects Him and asks for help (Jeremiah 18:18-20 and Chapter 20 are some instances of this). It's a nice example to follow, taking our problems calmly and faithfully to the Lord, "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7 NKJ).
    -The way God protects Jeremiah and the few people who help him is also a really cool thing to consider. Basically everyone in the country had him in their crosshairs; rulers, religious leaders, even his own neighbors. Jeremiah's life was threatened numerous times, he was thrown into prison for a crime he didn't commit, and he almost starved to death there. But throughout it all, he lived. And so did Jeremiah's scribe Baruch (Jeremiah 45:5), and Ebed-Melech, the man who saved Jeremiah's life by getting him out of a waterless cistern (Jeremiah 39:18), because God was protecting each of them. I just think it's a really great reminder of how He protects and guides us through whatever craziness we might face in life.
    -It was also very enlightening how the book of Jeremiah talks about what happened after the Babylonian invasion. It explains why the remnant that was left behind and their descendants weren't around when Zerubbabel and the people he led came back to the land. The after-invasion chapters also show what happened to Jeremiah after his immediate prophecies came to pass, which answers a couple other questions.
    -And of course, there are a lot of good verses in this book. Personally, Jeremiah 1:5, 1:8, and 20:9 in particular stuck out to me. They're beautiful statements that comfort and inspire, and encourage us to keep witnessing for the Lord.
    What do you think of the book of Jeremiah? Is it your favorite of the prophecy books in the Bible?

Writing Out Daydreams and Sticking to It

   
    Some people have the incredible gift of always being able to write at a considerably swift pace. I am not one of them.
   However, like most people, I can daydream with the ease of snapping my fingers, and the rapidity of blinking my eyes. And since I daydream quite a bit, I try to write some of them down as stand-alone scenes or short stories.
    But it doesn't always work out very well. I've found myself abandoning the effort on more than one occasion, (sometimes just after the first few sentences) because it's become boring. I can't type as fast as I can picture something, which makes the scene go a lot slower than it did in my mind, and that gets frustrating. I end up losing interest in the whole story and just move on to something else.
    This isn't horrible, but I'd really like to be able to stick to writing goals like it, so developing an effective solution would be nice.

To me, daydreams are kind of like blurry pictures of a scene;
they're legible, but a tad blurry (like this shaky picture I took),
and writing can make it much more clear and detailed.

    Daydreams are great creative exercises, sources of great story ideas, and it's just plain fun to do. But if I only focus on daydreaming as something fun, that's probably all that will come from it: momentary entertainment. And if I've already had fun with the daydream by the time I sit down to write about it, taking the extra time and effort to recreate and translate it into words would just feel pointless. The entertainment purpose has already been fulfilled, and without another motivation, there'd be  no reason to stick to writing it down.
    So there's got to be more than one purpose in daydreams that are intended to be written; something aside from having immediate amusement. Something that'll keep a person committed, determined to finishing it on the page. Writing the story for another person to enjoy could do the trick, or wanting to write the scene because it illustrates a point/cause really well. Or writing it down so that the daydream could be preserved and re-experienced without any alterations or missing events. These motivations can make good purposes, right?
    What do you think? Do you daydream a lot? Do you try to write them down? Have you ever had trouble doing it?

Psalm 19:14

 

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer."

Psalm 19:14 (NKJ)

William J. Toms: the Only Bible Some People Ever Read

 

"'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
good works and glorify your Father in heaven.'" Matthew :16 (NKJ)

 

"Be careful how you live; you will be the only Bible some people ever read."

~William J. Toms

    This quote is right on! Living with care, following Christ's examples and exhortations, living a godly life; it's a great witness that can show people how awesome and strengthening it is to have a relationship with the true and living God. It can show them a different picture of Christianity than what they might have heard.
    In addition to doing good, however, I think it's also very important to take the next step and actually tell people about Jesus. An act can speak paragraphs, but actually saying the words ensures that the true message gets across. Someone just being impressed with how "good" we are doesn't mean that they understand that God is the one who causes the good in us. They've got to actually hear the explanation in order to understand the meaning of the act; right?
    Words and action. They're good on their own, but together they're complete.
    Have you ever heard William J. Toms' quote before? What do you think of it?

Hunger

Looking at cake can suddenly whet a person's hunger for food.

    I've been thinking a bit about hunger lately. Not the hunger for food, but the kind of hunger that refers to the will.
    The hunger a person has when they really, really want to do something. It's a craving, a passion . . . though not an obsession (but maybe hunger is a little involved with that).
    It's good--it's necessary--to have a nice measure of hunger for things like wisdom, truth, and peace. And when you're a writer, it's also important to have a good amount of hunger for the act and craft of writing. Agreed?
    It contributes to the excitement of the craft, hunger. Yearning for the time and focus to just sit down, press keys, enjoy the moment, and shape words into a narrative of a whole other world full of totally different people (or animals, or creatures, or whatever beings the writer prefers to write about). It's an inspirational feeling.
    Sometimes I don't feel much of a hunger for writing though--which stinks, but I guess it's also part of being a writer. Having dry spells, lacking hunger. On some occasions, I feel like I have to wait a while before getting super excited about writing again; but other times, things that I actually do can whet my appetite again. Sometimes just writing without any particular plan in mind, listening to the inaudible voice of a character, can spark interest and excitement.
    Hunger's a pretty interesting thing to consider, I think. A writer's instinct that can be prompted (occasionally) but not controlled. What are your thoughts on the matter? :)

Micah 7:8

 

"Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise: when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me."

Micah 7:8 (NKJ)

    Rising after a fall, light in the darkness. The very concepts of those two things are exhilarating! It's dramatic and encouraging to think about: a dire situation in which everything seems lost, but then: hope.
   God gives us all strength to get up again when we stumble, and when things seem to go wrong, He's always there with us. He's our living hope!
    Isn't it awesome how this verse illustrates that? :)

Johnny Cash: It Takes a Real Man

 

 

 

"Being a Christian isn't for sissies. It takes a real man to live for God--a lot more man than to live for the devil."

~Johnny Cash

   

Guilt is Not a Very Good Motivator

Guilt kind of feels like getting rained on: uncomfortable, inconvenient,
and feeling dumb for not having brought an umbrella or a hoodie.

    Blaargh, I just made a writing mistake that I kind of feel stupid about.
    So I tell myself that I'm going to write at a specific time. I put "write something" as the very first thing on my To-Do List for the day. I feel confident about doing it, eager about the hour I've scheduled just for writing, waiting patiently throughout the whole day for this planned time. But then, for one or more various reasons, when the time comes, I don't sit down and write. I do something else instead. And then, when the precious time has been eaten up, the voices of guilt start sounding.
    Why didn't I write? That was the perfect opportunity! I should have gotten right to it. Suddenly, an idea strikes. Maybe this guilt will motivate me to write next time.
    So I get excited again. The next day, I put "write something" on the To-Do List again and repeat the other day's thoughts with one difference. Now that I have this memory of how bad I felt, I'll totally be motivated to ignore distractions, sit down, and focus on writing. It's going to be so awesome!
    Well, as it turns out, I am not totally motivated to write by the scheduled time, or for the rest of the day. Once again, I find myself looking at the unchecked box and feeling very unhappy with myself.
    So now I know: guilt is not a good motivator.
    I really should have known. Guilt isn't good to have at all. It's a negative emotion that rarely prompts anything positive. The idea of linking that crummy feeling to writing . . . what was I thinking? Claiming such a depressing emotion as my motivation for something as wonderful and beautiful as writing wouldn't just be doomed; it would be sad. So I won't be trying that again.
    Can you relate to any of this? Or was this little story just weird?

John 14:18

 

"'I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.'"

John 14:18 (NKJ)

 

    The Lord will never leave us alone. This promise is so wonderful! We can speak to Him and hear from Him easily through prayer and Bible study. And according to Matthew 18:20, "where two or more are gathered" in His name, He's there!

    I'm so glad that our relationship with God isn't long-distance, aren't you? :)

Watching the Seasons Change

    Summer is ending.
    School is starting up again, the weather's starting to cool down (or, in some areas, just stop being scorching hot), animals are beginning to recede into their hidden homes, and  Halloween candy and decorations are starting to show up in stores.
    Pretty soon, trees and other plants will start losing their leaves, cool breezes will start to blow, and the sunsets will come sooner. The seasons are morphing, changing right before our eyes.
    The transformation can be so subtle, but it's also so fascinating. Being able to watch things change on a widespread level, observing a shift that literally sweeps across the whole world . . . Noticing something so huge just seems really fascinating and beautiful.
    Do you always notice when the seasons change? Is there a specific thing that marks it, like certain birds that flock across the sky, or a specific crop that grows?

Hesitation

    Wow. Starting a new story is difficult.
    I'm doing that now, preparing to begin a new story before editing my previous one. I've been preparing for a long, long, long . . . long time. And admittedly, lately, I haven't been doing any research--I've just been hesitating.
    I have pretty much all the notes I need for a basic rough draft. My schedule has settled down enough for me to carve out time to write. I even have a little outline for the first few chapters. By all logical reasoning, I should be ready to start writing the story.
    Yet weeks have passed, and I still haven't started.
    Procrastination? Definitely, but I think there's something else to it too. An expectation I've held in my mind as an excuse for not beginning.
    On more than one occasion when I might have had the time to write, I thought: This isn't the right time to do this correctly. No, the ideal hour (two hours, actually, or three) to sit down, open up a new document, and begin the wonderful journey of a new story has to be perfect. The weather has to be exactly right, the mood has to be exactly right, I have to not be hungry at all, I have to have something nice to drink . . . everything must be perfect, because I cannot bear to write something I expect to be great and have it coming out not great. I must do all these things, and then everything I write in that first chapter will come out easily and perfectly.
    Yeah, that'll happen. I really need to get rid of all these excuses and just start writing, even if it doesn't come out as flawlessly as I picture it in my mind. Honestly, I'm pretty sure first drafts are never as good as the story is in one's mind. They only become so eloquent and beautiful after editing, revisions, and lots of time spent in diligent work.
    I'm going to try to be diligent like that and just start writing. No expectations of perfection, no excuses.
    Do you ever have trouble like this when starting a new story? Is the hesitation from procrastination, fear, doubt about whether or not the story is the right one to write? What do you do to overcome it?

Psalm 50:15

 

"'Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.'"

Psalm 50:15 (NKJ)

    I love, love, love verses like this! They showcase the Lord's protectiveness, strength, and love like bright pearls set against a dark backdrop.
    Plus, with the alliteration in the verse,"fifty fifteen," memorizing where it is in the Word is easier. Isn't that great? :)

Having a Dictionary at Hand

    Sometimes when I'm doing a Bible study, I have a dictionary at hand. And whenever I see a word that's particularly interesting, I look it up.
    Not because I don't know the definition. No, I understand what the words mean. But looking into the definition more thoroughly can further develop my idea of the word. Compromise, for example, can mean coming up with an evenly fair agreement, but it can also mean appeasement. The difference between these two definitions is major, and understanding this gives a clearer picture of the event it's used to talk about. Like, say, the response of a king to an enemy's threats.
    Atonement, propitiation, and compromise are some of the words I've looked up during Bible study. Do you ever take out a dictionary to look into words more deeply?