Blood on the Page

I heard a podcaster today talk about writing. Luke Norsworthy said that writing is simple. You just find a vein, open it, and bleed onto the page. That's really graphic, but makes so much sense.

My problem is finding the vein. Sometimes I poke and prod and search for that thing to say. My brain allows so many deep thoughts to rattle around. I have to catch one of those flying shards of truth and craft it into a sensical presentation, something worth saying in a form worth hearing.

Sometimes finding the vein is fun. Sometimes it is frustrating. Sometimes I have so many veins begging to be bled that I can't begin to tap them all.

Now maybe I can un-mix my metaphor. The flying shards can, with a bit of guidance, pierce those veins of the heart. A shard of truth slicing into a vessel of life--now that can shed some serious blood.

Seriously.

Crystallized Peace

It began to snow at my house about 1 p.m. today.  They say we may get over 8 inches.

Now I sit in my house, reading, writing, watching, praying.  Through every window, I watch powdered peace falling.  I am privileged beyond measure.  I have had today's meetings, fetched the last necessities, and now I sit in peace.

God chose to make precipitation beautiful.  Thanks be to God.  When these rare snows arrive, life's busyness comes to a halt.  No one expects anyone to go anywhere or do anything.

We can take a deep breath and just be.  We have permission to be still.  We have time to listen.  We remember that there are things--however few--over which we have absolutely no control.  Through nature, God puts us in our place.

Be still and know that he is God.