The Curse of the Everyday

The seeming curse of a writer is to be forever lost in a world of daydreams.

Somedays these dreams are merry and cheerful. Other days, these dreams are sad and bring tears to your eyes.

But most days these dreams inspire feelings of longing… nay, yearning, and great desire for something that it just beyond your reach….

For each writer, I am certain, that longing is inspired by something different or uniquely fitted to the passions that lie deep within their soul. For me, I find that on these days my soul yearns for adventure, for grand and daring deeds, for love and the thrill of the chase; Even for tales of magic, knights, and dragons to be real.

Through much time spent in prayer and internal speculation as I struggle to make the most of every present moment instead of getting lost in my daydreams as much as I do, I have come to realize part of the reason for this:

Sometimes the most difficult battles we fight aren’t the ones fought with guns, fists, or swords. The most difficult battles are the ones we don’t see… the battles of mind and of spirit; the battle between light and dark, heaven and hell. For when you can’t see your enemy and can’t feel the nearness of his weapon, that is when you forget that he is there.

It is one thing to meet the enemy on the field of battle with an army behind you and an army behind him. It is a very different thing to wake up every morning and go to work and then come home and fight against boredom and the feelings of being incomplete as you clean your house and make your food, watch a little Netflix and then go to sleep in order to awake the next day and go through the exact same routine all over again.

…Tell me you’re not bored of that life, and I will ask you your secret….

This yearning can be perceived as a curse most of the time, as I desire something so strongly that I ache, and yet that thing is impossible to have. And yet, in so many ways it is also a blessing! It forces me to turn to writing as an outlet: to write out the stories and adventures that fill my daydreams. If I do not write them out in some form, express them in some way, it feels as though I might explode. I cannot easily speak these emotions, certainly not in a way that other people can understand, so I start becoming tense and easily irritable. And so it compels me to pick up a pen, or open up my laptop and jot down my thoughts and my emotions.

But more than that, these yearnings are a constant reminder to me of what C.S. Lewis wrote:

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world… I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death.”
– C.S. Lewis

I am reminded of the unseen battle that rages on. I am reminded that my soul was created to live in close relationship with God in Heaven. Until that day, I must depend upon God’s guidance to live a full life and reach my full potential while still here upon the Earth. 

Only then will I be complete. Only then will my soul stop yearning for something more.

Perhaps one day, beyond those great pearly gates I will get a chance to go on a grand quest to find a dragon, or venture boldly across wild seas into new and exciting lands…. A girl can only dream!

Let Them Hear of Heroic Courage

“Since it is so likely
that children will meet cruel enemies,
let them at least have heard
of brave knights and heroic courage.”

– C.S. Lewis

You know what the best part about creating something is? If you’re an artist, I bet an answer just popped into the front of your mind like that too eager student who always sits in the front of the class and keeps their hand at ready to shoot up as they yell “I know, I know!”

I’m sure a lot of people have different answers to that question…. There is the thrill of a blank page, or a white canvas, or a formless lump of clay, etc.  There is the rush of something new and beautiful, or moving and life changing as it unfolds beneath your pen or fingertips, or on the stage. And what about that great feeling you get when your grand masterpiece has been completed? Isn’t that such a wonderful emotion?!

For me, all of those are incredible moments and definitely compete for second place. But really, what I think to be the best part about creating is the moment that someone else gets to experience what I have created and I can just tell by their face, or by the way that they chuckle as they read a funny joke, or when they tell me how mad they were at the villain and how desperate they are to know how the story is going to end. It is then that I know that I have successfully taken someone on a journey that they will–-hopefully–never forget.

When a kid’s eyes light up while holding a copy of my book and they shyly tell me about how they now want to write a book of their own: there are few greater feelings! Simple black type on paper has that power: the power to capture the imagination, to push boundaries, to challenge the worldview of the reader. It is almost magic, really. And just like magic, it can be used for good or evil.

Think of that little kid who will be reading your book. With your words you can either inspire him through tales of brave heroes, courageous deeds, and hope in the midst of trouble, or you can tear him down with fear, evil villains, and death. Don’t get me wrong, you need the villain for the hero to defeat and you need the darkness to make the light shine brighter, but which will you choose to dwell upon? Which will you encourage the child to be? 

I would rather empower a kid by showing him or her the strength of the rising sun, than make him or her feel weak and helpless beneath the shadows and the terrors of the night.