Open Spaces
Vol. 21.1
January 24, 2020
What a month we have endured, and there are yet a few
days remaining in January. How will you remember the first month of 2021? I’m
certain that it will leave its permanent mark within your memory.
If COVID was not enough to face, if even considering
that over 400,000 of our country men, women, and children have fallen victim to
this illness were not enough to concern us. Even if it were not a burden of
sufficient weight, political unrest did not ease our hearts. It would be easy
to feel that our world is unraveling, that there is not any REAL hope remaining.
Yet we, of faith, understand that HOPE is never beyond our reach.
So I stand in a place I might not have expected,
grateful that my parents were not forced to see the images displayed. You see
they had not forgotten their childhood. They had not forgotten the horrors of
living in an occupied country and beneath the thumb of a madman. Those scenes
of angry men and women storming the Capital, would have reminded them of events
of their teen years. Seeing the THOUSANDS of troops and the high fences, would
have awakened memories which may have been pushed aside but never forgotten.
And now I join them with these fresh images burned into my forever.
Your personal interpretation of the events must be
your own. I will not use this platform to create a political discussion. Rather
to say, that EACH OF US has faced something that might have seemed impossible
only a year ago. It will be up to EACH OF US to choose how we move forward form
the place we now find ourselves. It is my hope that you do so prayerfully. To
quietly acknowledge that though things seem crazy...GOD IS IN CHARGE.
Let me shift gears.
The manuscript of book that has had my primary
attention most of last year has returned from my editor. I do not expect to
begin the next stage on that project until February. I have been studying the
editorial letter these past days, and Kristina has given me SO MUCH to think
about. As all GOOD editors, she provides ideas of which I agree, and slants I
do not believe fits the story I want to tell. Each collaboration demands open
minds to truly consider our individual points of view. But I can see that there
is MUCH work to do. I am grateful for her eyes to see the portions of the story
that are weak and need reinforcement. I will NOT toss aside even one comment
without due consideration. Perhaps it is a sign of my respect for her. Perhaps
it is a sign that, when it comes to writing, I have yet much to learn. I yet
have pages of that letter to pour over. I read a portion and then allow myself
time to chew on it, to see what fits and what doesn’t...or doesn’t seem to.
I will not look at the immensity of the task that lies
before me. Rather consider each part, one bite at a time. This week it is the
twenty-four pages of her critique. I will take that bite and chew and grind it
a bit before I open up the manuscript and begin in earnest.
So as you can tell this writer has been busy. And that
is not mentioning a new book I started on New Year’s Day. It is my hope that
you too find a purpose to drive you forward each day. For I firmly believe that
even those of us that are no longer employed, need a reason to get up in the
morning. For God gives us each day, for a task HE provides. Our duty is to find
that undertaking...to do that job...and prepare ourselves for the next one.
It is my hope that this letter finds you well. That
you remember...ALWAYS...that God loves you!
Blessings,
John
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