A Tree of Life

 by Anusha Atukorala

Have you seen my tongue tricks? 

When I was growing up, my family was often entertained by them—I could even touch my nose with my tongue! In fact, I still can! I stopped writing now to take a few pictures to prove its truth to you, but ... the photos didn't look decent enough to be aired before your little eyes, so I shall wait a bit longer to satisfy your curiosity.

 

Recently, a verse in Proverbs spoke to me.

"A soothing tongue is a tree of life." 

Proverbs 15:4

 

As I read these words, I pictured a sweet young Mum rocking her baby boy on her knee. He's fallen and grazed his knee and his loud wails fill the air. Gently, she wipes his tear-stained cheeks and washes the scrape on his knee.

“Shh… it’s all right. It’s going to be fine, Sweetie!” 

Soon … his sobs die down. One last gulp and then, the flash of an angelic little-boy smile! He has calmed down. Made whole  ... through a soothing tongue.

 

When I have been badly in need of them, gentle words uttered by family and friends have been like cool breezes fanning a sad heart, a soft shawl around my shoulders on a cold day or a gift that never stops giving. They’ve also been a tree of life. I am able to sit content under the shade of its leafy branches.

 

A soothing tongue blesses. And we writers have power—the power to wield our pen and our tongues for good, power to bring encouragement and hope to sorrow-filled hearts, power to entertain and bring smiles to faces (and even a tear or two), power to instil courage and joy into lives that are hurting, power to bequeath a renewed perspective of God and His world to enhance a reader’s life.

In Genesis and Revelation we see references to The Tree of Life. Now that is something worth waiting for, isn’t it? Meanwhile, as we wait, in Proverbs we find four comparisons to the tree of life, all life-giving commodities—

Wisdom, 

Fruit, 

A longing fulfilled & 

A soothing tongue. 

 

We Christian writers need wisdom. Lots of it. Wisdom about life, wisdom about how to best use the language, wisdom about our readers and how they will engage with us, wisdom about how to write well. 

Wisdom is everything. 

Or is it?

 

" The fruit of the righteous is a Tree of Life." 

Proverbs 11:30

This verse implies that in order to bear fruit in our writing, we need also to be righteous - holy - God breathed disciples. Jesus said that what is on the inside of us is what comes out of us. How can we share His words with the world if we are not walking in His ways and pleasing Him in our thoughts, words and deeds, seeking to become more and more like Jesus?

What then does a tree comprise of? Roots, a trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit. Can we writers be trees of life? We can grow roots that go deep into God and His word, a trunk that stands tall against the enemy’s punches, branches that spread far and wide to share our good news with the world, flowers that bring pleasure to life-seeking hearts, leaves that bring healing to the nations and fruit that provides succour, strength, hope and nourishment to those who hunger for it.

 

The last reference to a tree of life in the Proverbs is about our dreams. Now, dreams are what we writers have plenty of—some obvious, like a lolly bulging in little girl’s cheek as she unsuccessfully tries to hide it from her Mum's watchful eye. Others nestling in our hearts as they are slowly birthed to life through our Master’s gentle touch.

"A longing fulfilled is a Tree of Life." Proverbs 13:12

What kind of longings are in your heart today, dear writerly friend? To publish a book? To sell your books? To be a good speaker? To write good stories? To create a blog? Or maybe you have many other dreams tucked in your beautiful heart that are waiting to be realised. 

May every longing in your heart see the light of day. 

May you be a tree of life, roots going deep into God, standing tall, providing rest and shelter to all who come under the branches of your life-giving words!

 

"A Soothing Tongue is a Tree of Life" 

Proverbs 15:4

Anusha’s been on many interesting detours in life, as a lab technician, a computer programmer, a full time Mum, a full time volunteer, a charity director, a full time job chaser, until one golden day (or was it a dark moonless night?) God tapped her on her shoulder and called her to write for Him. She has never recovered from the joy it brought her. She loves to see others enjoying life with Jesus and does her mite to hurry the process in her world through her writing and through her life. The goodness of God is her theme song through each season, as she dances in the rain with Jesus.

Her first book 'Enjoying the Journey' contains 75 little God stories that will bring you closer to your Creator. Her second book 'Dancing in the Rain' brings you hope and comfort for life's soggy seasons. Her third book 'Sharing the Journey' is a sequal to Enjoying the Journey also containing little stories that warm the heart. 

Thank you for sharing her journey by reading this blog today!

Do stop by at her two websites to say G’day! 

She'd love to connect with you.

Dancing in the Rain

Light in the Darkness

 

Dancing in the Rain: To purchase Book

Sharing the Journey: To purchase Book

 

 

To be right? Or right with God?

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Stuart Miles

By Melinda Jensen

Writers are a pedantic lot. We have to be. We spend endless hours not just crossing t's and dotting i's but also meditating on metaphors, being punctilious about punctuation, honing in on history and all manner of tedious activities in the hope of catching the elusive eye of that most pedantic of all creatures – the publisher.

The competition we face is tremendous. It's huge, totally awesome; no competition is bigger than ours - :) If we neglect our perfectionist tendencies, we simply won't be published. Our manuscript will be tossed aside faster than Donald Trump's hair in a wind gust.

And we'd better get our facts straight because somewhere, sometime, our readers will know we got it wrong, and our credibility will slink out the door with our 'tale' between its legs.

I suspect many who nurse a deep-rooted longing to write are born with this predisposition towards perfectionism. After nature has stamped us, nurture follows up with admirable efficiency. We're both blessed and doomed.

When we're wearing our writers' robes, attention to detail is very much a blessing. It's when we swap those robes for our everyday garb that our pedantry can get us into trouble. Because it's such a life-long habit, one we generally view as a virtue, we often miss the damage it can do to relationships.

Does it really matter if our non-writer friends misspell a word or get the punctuation wrong in their posts? When they've expressed an impassioned opinion, does it uplift them to be on the receiving end of criticism? Or would they feel as though we've completely missed their point, and therefore misunderstood them, by focusing on what they perceive as irrelevant detail? What does it say about us as Christians if we're perceived as 'dis'-couragers instead of 'en'-couragers? Will non-Christians assume our dogmatism in one area also translates to dogmatism in our religious beliefs? I suspect they would.

I know how I feel (embarrassed and indignant) when I share a post that has six out of seven facts correct but one is a bit dubious ... and someone simply will not let it go! I'll quite likely be aware of its imperfection before I post it, but expect my friends, especially my Christian friends, to use some discernment in looking for the message; the underlying sentiment.

Courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos.net/StuartMiles

In fact it's my own recent experience with being 'pulled up' abruptly and publicly by someone I respect that led to looking at my own culpability in this area. No matter how long and hard I tried to explain the deeper message, and implore my friend to understand that I don't have time to completely reconstruct a facebook meme copied from someone else's page, her focus remained resolutely on an unimportant detail. It gave the wrong impression, she said. I clearly didn't check my facts, she said. It was fake news, she said. You're wrong, she said! And I, of course, desperately wanted to be right.

I struggled with how to respond in the face of such unnecessary conflict and like to think I stopped short of responding like a petulant child. But my inner child was, indeed, very much wounded.

Yet, at some point in this painful process, I came to understand that my friendship was far more important than continuing to argue over who was right and who was wrong. I stepped back and perceived that my friend was suffering too. She had a deep-seated need to point out the 2% of my post that was inaccurate and no doubt believed she was doing the right thing in revealing my 'error'.

So I conceded her point, telling her I understood now exactly what she meant and appreciated the time and effort she'd put into our conversation. In truth, I understood what she meant from the beginning but was too busy defending myself to notice.

My friend might just as easily have conceded the point first but she was too wrapped up in her own quest for perfection, and the need to be 'right'. One of us had to budge, otherwise our friendship was doomed.

Shortly after, my conscience began to reveal the times I'd been the one to unnecessarily correct another person over trivial issues, and I'm ashamed to say I recalled far too many instances. With that revelation I was confronted with all the pain I'd caused. It wasn't one of my finer moments.

Courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos.net/StuartMiles

The pedantic nature of writers is utterly integral to the writing process and is therefore a gift and a blessing. But like all aspects of human nature, it has a dark side; the negative side that

damages relationships in its egocentric push to be right.

We need to discern whether it's worth risking any ensuing emotional damage; and whether or not our 'correction' really clarifies an issue in any important way.

When we wound each other with our pedantry we use our words in a way God did not intend for His children, especially those children to whom he has given the gift of expressing those very words. We can uplift each other as writers by proofreading and editing one another's work; and feed that pedantic little inner monster inside us to our hearts' content. But outside that context we need to exercise wisdom.

God's own Word is very clear about His expectations regarding the way his people use words.

If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. (Proverbs 18:13)

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.' (Ephesians 4:29)

'Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. (Proverbs 17:27)

As writers, we have a choice to make. Do we want to be merely 'right'? Or right with God?

Melinda writes both fiction and non-fiction, along with the odd poem. She has been published on a modest number of occasions, largely short stories and poetry. She does however, harbour a keen desire to write fantasy with an environmental theme for young readers, and is currently creating two such novels. This year's major project however, is a 'how-to' for adults, written from her own experience.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/StuartMiles