I was walking my dog, just a normal walk, but it’s funny how a normal walk can turn into a creative walk. Jon and I had just been talking about two books I want to write. I told him “I feel like this is a series, but only two are on my heart right now”. Cue “normal walk”.
Suddenly four books are swirling around in my head. Words, ideas. Then I stop on this one “the writer”. It’s the last one to come to my mind. I love these moments with God. His book would be “the writer”. Well they all point to our stories for His glory, so they all point to Him and are for HIm, but this one would be the special relationship we have with God.
How timely this moment was. Now I have to warn you, any attempt at comparing God to a human idea is going to miss the mark, it will never fully explain it, but I love this personal moment I had with Him, on a normal day, on a normal walk. So, here we go. As a writer of scripts, which means a writer of stories, I began to think about the time taken to develop and write each character . It's a process. I get to know character in the developmental process. They are woven together with intentional words. In fact, to get to know them more, I attach an enneagram number to each individual character. I love spending time with each character as each word begins to define each character in the story. Does this sound familiar to you? Psalm 139 says that He has knit you together in your mothers womb… You are fearfully and wonderfully made...” You were made with intention. You were made on purpose. Your personality, your big Italian nose, “Oh that’s me”. Your talent, your quirks. You were made with purpose, on purpose, for a purpose.
Now for me as a writer, there is always a fear of releasing a script. That’s because I am a flawed imperfect human just trying to live out a calling that I love with my whole heart, but that also scares me half to death at times. Releasing a script, means that judgemental eyes will be on it. Will they like me? Will they understand? Did I make any grammatical errors? In fact my first full length script stayed safe on a shelf for 10 years before it found its way onto a stage. However, the first time I saw characters I had written come to life was one of the most surreal moments of my life. It was pure joy. And as I write this, I can think of how just yesterday I was directing a VBS rehearsal for my church. All day today I was bragging about the actors. I was retelling specific stories about them and how much fun we had for three hours growing together, building camaraderie, and how each character was coming to life. The picture that was created in my head as words were put on a page, were coming to life beautifully, perfectly for this exact moment.
Then, while on my walk, I realized how much I delight in seeing the characters I write come to life. How excited I am to talk about each actor and how their interpretation is so amazing. Then it hit me. The amount that I delight in watching my intentionally crafted characters come to life, pails, it comes nowhere close to the amount God delights in his children. Sometimes it can be easy to forget that God delights in us. But He is our Heavenly FATHER. Think of the joy an earthy parent has when they watch their child live out a their purpose, make a difference, grow, succeed. Now imagine God, your Heavenly Father delighting over you. The one who knit you tougher. The one who's " thoughts for you outnumber the grains of sand" (psalm 139). He loves you.
I think sometimes we forget that God delights in us. It can be so easy to compare ourselves with other, think about our flaws, be our own worst critic. Remember who created you. You are the you that was intentionally created by Elohim, God the creator. And He finds delight in His children.