I adore that metaphor! I thought about it several times today and resolved that I wanted to be like that, a person of depth in a world of so much superficiality.
And then I had a really challenging day relationally. I was shallow in ways that I wished I had not been mere moments later. Some of the Monday Night Girls in whom I have invested my heart and soul made very disappointing decisions with painful consequences.
I was reminded that there are real differences in magazines and novels.
Magazines get to be slick and glossy. Novels get tired and worn.
Magazines can be relevant--always reinventing themselves. Novels don't reinvent themselves, they are what they are.
Magazines stay surface. Novels dig deep into characters' lives and backgrounds, exposing their humanity, including their flaws.
Magazines are usually thrown out with the trash. Novels are often passed around and treasured.
Magazines are the product of several authors. Novels are the result of only one.
Living an authentic life of love is hard work--especially for human, broken vessels. Tonight as I left the Home carrying a four page heartbreaking handwritten note in my back pocket from one of the residents, I thanked God for lighting a passion in my heart for being a novel. Even as I walk through painful trials with friends--getting to witness God at work in their lives is amazing. It is hard, life consuming, and often painful, but it is worth it.
As long as He is the author, I am willing to go to those dark places--knowing my cover will certainly end up ragged and tattered. Some may flip through my pages and move on. Others will find words of life.
God is in control. I wouldn't have it any other way.
16 comments:
Great metaphor! So happy you were able to be at peace tonight.
oh man i love this!!! and, i am right in the middle of my kids and bad decisions at school...its no fun but i remind myself and them that He has only our best interest at hand and gives us no more than we can handle with Him! to being novels from and of Him...what an incredible and worthy ambition, goal, and attainable reality! man, this will stick with me for a long long time! gotta listen to that song to! thanks! love you!
I read your blog frequently and I can assure you that your stories read like chapters of a carefully-crafted novel, not like articles in a superficial magazine!
True, novels cannot reinvent themselves to suit the contemporary needs of society. However, the BEST ones are always relevent because their messages are timeless. Your AUTHENTIC posts about striving passionately after God's will in your life fit this enduring category.
The way we read Biblical stories of striving written thousands of years ago is the same way your precious children will read your stories of striving in 15,25,35 years. Your stories may not always be flashy or glossy by society's contemporary standards... but your messages are timeless.
And how could they not be? You are a child of THE timeless LORD :)
I,too, love the metaphor. I long to be a novel in the lives of others. It is so hard. I know that some people enjoy a good novel while others hate to read anything at all, much less a magazine. Yet, the novel stands the test of time. I worked with girls in a home for several years and saw so many take the love they were given and seemingly toss it away, but some are still living a life that makes a difference for God. I only know that I tried to do what God told me to do. Thanks for sharing your heart.
That is a really good metaphor! Your blog is so inspiring. I left an award for you on my blog.
I do agree to the point but I do think that your blog is not a metaphor cause it is so realistic and so alive . I am following this novel for years and I can not stop reading it. God bless you and your family.
I love this word picture. How often I end of being a magazine to people due to time crunches, exhaustion or unwillingness to get deeper with them.
This word picture will be in my mind now as I go about today...thank you.
Your metaphors always speak volumes to me. Thank you.
Wow. You have such a gift for sorting through words and finding spiritual relevance. I find myself coming back over and over for encouragement, as well as pictures and tales of your sweet children.
Wow - that was great and encouraging, too. Excellent.
Amy@balmingilead.typepad.com
Great analogy! I love this! thanks!
Well said, and true to the last word. Thank you for the reminder.
Wow ... what an analogy. One I'll be contemplating for a very long time, I imagine. Those girls at the home are very blessed to have you in their lives.
That is powerful! Thank you for your blog and this post. You really have so much impact on so many lives.......praise the Lord for you!
Blessings!
I read an awesome quote on "Stuff Christians Like" today. He posted about why bad things, bad situations, etc...happen in the lives of people who are pursuing Him in a passionate way. The question that he said God posed to him was "Do I have the right to crack the vessel if breaking it is the fastest way to share with the world what I have poured into it?'"
I have a link to that post from my blog...the whole post was just some awesome insight.
This is great!! I just may have to use it some time!! Thanks for sharing it!
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