Good Editing

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Margaret

When I got the chance to write a book two years ago (at left), it was a dream come true, and the long process of thinking, organizing, and writing was pure pleasure. Secretly I hoped for the chance to repeat the experience. Now that possibility is coming into focus.

Looking back to the first book, I see how critically important it was to be partnered with a good editor.

Her name was Miranda, and I learned more from her than I did in all my college writing classes combined.

Although writers and editors all work with words, they use completely different skill-sets, and Miranda’s meticulous critique was invaluable to my little book. If I do get to write another one, my highest hope will be to team up with her again, because expert editing makes the difference between a mediocre end-result and a memorable one.

All of us need our words edited once in a while, for example in our prayers. God knows that, so he makes two supernatural editors available to us. The first is his Holy Spirit and the second Jesus Christ. These two have never made, nor will they ever make, an editing mistake.

We should be deeply grateful for them, since they take the prayerful petitions we make to God and edit them into viable, acceptable requests he will hear and answer. Theirs is an awesome duty that benefits us daily. Scripture says the Spirit edits with sounds that are actually too deep for words but that God understands his specific groans on our behalf. And Jesus bridges the natural gap between us and God.

So why can’t we edit our own prayers? The truth is, we do, but it’s not positive. Let’s say he asks us to obey in a specific way and we respond with, “Ok.” But then we edit: “You know I’m only human, Lord. How ’bout if I obey half of that and let the rest go.”

Unacceptable editing.

In another example we might think, “God doesn’t really mean what he says. He meant to say…” and we fill in the blank in a way that doesn’t require too much of us.

More bad editing.

A good editor like Miranda will take the first draft of a book and raise questions with the author about words and concepts, listening to her rationale but sometimes insisting on changes. God does that too, as his Son and Spirit commune with him about us. Their editing makes our imperfect requests perfect to his ears.

I hope I can work with Miranda again, but that won’t be up to me. Working with God’s Son and Spirit, however, is left completely up to us.

“There is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. […and] we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (1 Timothy 2:5 & Romans 8:26)

Coincidence?

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Margaret

Today I was the recipient of a personal touch from God.

I began as I always do, by filling the bathtub, but after sealing the drain and letting the water fill 2”, I noticed a grit across the bottom as if the bather ahead of me had stepped in with sandy feet. So I flipped the lever to let it drain, but it was a slow-go. This drain has been clogged for many weeks and by this time was down to a trickle. Waiting impatiently because I had a morning appointment, I looked at the clock to see how late I would be.

Those 2” of water took 9 long, annoying minutes to drain, reminding me I couldn’t put off calling a plumber much longer. Finally I filled the tub, planning to return later to rinse the soap scum away.

But when I had finished my bath and flipped the lever to open the drain, something incredible happened. The deep water in that tub whooshed out with force. Minutes earlier it had only trickled, but suddenly 13” of water was gone in 2 minutes!

I would have labeled it “just a lucky break” if it hadn’t been for one important factor. I share this with you, blog readers, knowing that “going public” might negate something valuable, but here goes.

In recent months I’ve been praying with passion about a stubborn problem that’s remained unchanged, and recently God reminded me that occasionally we should couple our prayers with fasting. Though I have little understanding of how fasting works, Scripture tells us two things: (1) the Lord sanctions fasting, and (2) it adds power to our prayers.

Though the Bible says we’re to keep our fasts private, I’m sharing this story for one reason: to testify to what God did. These many months my specific prayer request has been for the Holy Spirit to “unclog” the thinking of a certain person, asking for a “breakthrough”. Then I committed to a one day fast, and on that very day an unexplainable rush of water “broke through” a “clogged” drain.

Coincidence?

I think God wants us to continually watch for him. He’s working all around us, and to catch a glimpse of him is a spiritual high like no other. Though I risk losing the benefit of my fast by way of this post, I can’t keep quiet about God and his ever-present activity. As a result of this morning’s whoosh of water, I believe he’s going to specifically answer my requests. I don’t know when or how, but you can be sure I’ll be carefully watching for him.

“Pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance.” (Ephesians 6:18)

Bountiful Burdens

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Margaret

Here in southwest Michigan we received another exquisite blanket of snow last night, 6” more. We (along with our next-door-neighbor Bob) have cleared the driveway so many times it’s become a calisthenic event to “throw” shovels-full to the top of the piles.

Today while navigating the now-narrow roads of my subdivision, I noticed the evergreens were so heavily laden with snow their branches could no longer hold up. Some of them had been pressed all the way to the ground.

Many of us have felt much like those evergreens, bent beneath our loads. On any given morning it might even be difficult to roll out of bed and stand up, if we’re faced with a day overloaded by burdens. And when life’s storms come in multiples as snowstorms often do, each new layer feels like another 6” of heavy.

God tells us it’s not supposed to be that way, not when we’re partnered with him. He actually describes burdens and “easy” and “lightweight”, though he’s referring to his, not ours. (Matthew 11:30) He wants to convince us to roll our burdens over to him, and in the process, the things that formerly weighed us down will disappear. Then those same weights become feather-light to him.

Our only problem is the roll-over. Just like it’s strenuous to throw a shovel of heavy snow on a high pile, “tossing” our troubles to the Lord is hard work, too. They tend to stick to us like snow sticks to mittens on a good-packing day. We might try to release them, but just when we think we’ve done it and are waiting for that feeling of sweet relief, we discover we’ve taken them back.

The reason for handing them back and forth to God is that we aren’t completely sure he’s going to deal with them as effectively as we would. And surrendering our control goes against our natural, prideful instincts. Incredibly we’d rather stagger around under a heavy weight than let him take over.

But once we truly believe he’s better at burden-bearing than we are, the hand-off becomes easier and we can enjoy a freedom of movement like we’ve never known.

But lest we get flippant in our new, weightless reality, God gives us an additional reason why he’s eager to shoulder our burdens: so we can lift the loads of others. In Galatians he says, “Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (6:2) As always, he is our example. He unburdens us so we can unburden others.

Today as I study the small evergreens in my yard, it seems doubtful they’ll ever recover. Not only have they been weighed down by winter’s storms, they’ve had additional shovel-fulls piled on top of them. But these old bushes have been through difficult winters many times before, and when spring finally arrives, I’m going to hope they’ll be standing tall.