Christian Writers Downunder: A bag

Thursday, 18 February 2021

A Bag of Goodies!

by Anusha Atukorala

In Jan 2019, I flew to Sri Lanka for a family reunion. My Mum was a well known journalist for almost 70 years, so we put together a book that comprised some her articles. We her seven children came from the corners of the globe to celebrate Mum’s life and work at her book launch. It was precious time, filled with love and laughter, family and friends, food and fellowship.

Before I returned home to Australia, my sister Sal gave me a generous gift—a voucher from a clothing store. The blouses and skirts in the shop didn’t catch my eye, but I did find something I loved—a spacious canvas bag! The eloquent black and white pattern on it called out to me like a kookaburra’s laugh and the bag fit snugly on my shoulder. I knew I’d find good use for it back home. However, as the months rolled on, I found I didn’t have much reason to reach for it. The thing is, that I had numerous other handbags that were more useful because they, unlike this one, contained numerous separate sections that helped carry the innumerable small items I usually take with me. Did I choose the wrong gift, I wondered!

Last year, when winter’s icy chill had waned, when birds began to twitter and colour-splashed flowers danced in the light of day, God wooed me to my backyard. I have been spending hours there with Him every day, enjoying the beauty and solitude. I use an interesting assortment of items for my Quiet Time—a folder containing worship songs, one with lyrics of songs I’ve composed while a third is crammed with spiritual tools that nurture my walk with God—prayers, pictures, reminders, blessings.

And of course I take my well-worn bible, a notebook and pen, my reading glasses, sunglasses and even my phone, in case I need to take pictures. I’ve a few tissues for when tears drench my blouse—as they often do in God’s presence. I take a book I’ve created, crammed with evidence of God’s love for me and thoughts I reflect on daily. There’s a book on prayer by Richard Foster and another on healing by Agnes Sandford, both which have been a help in my journey with God this past year.

One day, as I collected my Quiet Time Treasures to take to my garden, I dropped my packet of tissues and my reading glasses. Clumsy me! Like a feather falling from a bird in flight, an idea dropped into my mind then … soft and sure. I went to my bedroom at once and found my new but unused bag. I placed my folders, Bible, pen, tissues, books, folders, phone, notebook, sunglasses and reading glasses inside it, slung it on my shoulder and with a steaming cup of English breakfast tea in hand, went out to my favourite spot in our backyard. Why hadn’t I thought of it before?

I had a bag of Treasures and oh how it enhanced my morning routine! No dropping items on the way anymore! Since then, I’ve kept my bag filled—I don’t waste time any more, gathering my belongings each morning for my time with the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Did you know that you also have a bag of goodies which you can dip into daily, on order to enhance your life as a Christian writer? Let me warn you though. There could be unfortunate scraps inside our bags which should not be in there. Things like …

Procrastination.

Negative thinking.

Self-put-downs.

Comparison.

Rejection.

Past mistakes … and more. Lots more.

They get in the way of doing God’s work, so let’s discard them.

Here are some of what you might need in your Writer’s bag of Treasures:

1. Jesus

2. God’s love

3. Your calling

4. The Holy Spirit

5. Books on writing

6. An uncluttered self

7. Faith, hope and love

8. The Word planted in you

9. Writing ability. Writing ideas

10. Christian Writers Downunder

11. Life lessons learnt from the past

12. Family. An anchor and a catalyst

13. Friends. To help us on our journey

14. Courage to write. Clarity of thinking

15. Perseverance. Hope. Wisdom. Knowledge.

16. Good books that teach us as we enjoy them

17. Writer friends who walk the journey with us

18. God’s forgiveness and mercy for past failures

19. 2020. A year with many experiences to write about

20. The realisation that you have something important to share

You are rich in the things that matter. Did you know that? Which of these have eluded you of late? Which of them you do need to put back into your bag before you go out to your writing space today?

Let’s walk together into the rest of 2021 with a song in our hearts.

Jesus has called you. He has called me. He has called us.

Let’s join hands and change the world, one word at a time.

We have our bag of treasures. We have Jesus. We have each other.

What more do we need?