Several months ago, I started a series of blog posts entitled “From There to Here.” (The series has since ceased. I’ve moved onto other topics.) The responses to it were interesting. Some people applauded it and thanked me for the reminder that their own all too circuitous paths had a purpose to them. Others saw it and were concerned. They thought that mentioning missteps, failures, and challenges could make people leery about working with me. They suggested I not share the struggles inherent in being a writer and artist.
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Trajectory
But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. — Acts 20:24, NASB
Redefining Success
So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. – 1 Corinthians 13:7
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Work Hard
So let me tell you something, if you want to be taken seriously you need to get up and make it happen, because you can’t do nothing if you don’t make a move. There’s work to do…Work. Oh, you gotta work. — The Washington Projects
Change the Stakes
Why all this hysteria? Why do you insist on making a scene and making it even harder for me? You’re looking at this backward. The issue in Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience.
— Acts 21:13, The Message
Writing as Healing
Writing can be a true spiritual discipline. Writing can help us to concentrate, to get in touch with the deeper stirrings of our hearts, to clarify our minds, to process confusing emotions, to reflect on our experiences, to give artistic expression to what we are living, and to store significant events in our memories…By writing we can claim what we have lived and thus integrate it more fully into our journeys. Then writing can become lifesaving for us and sometimes for others, too.
— Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey, “Writing to Save the Day”