Into the Fire

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Passionate: right or wrong. Writes love stories with a passion. Raw Romantic Redemptive

Ordinary v Important

 

Writing inserts us into decisions we can’t always make. Purpose poses problems perpetuated by restless reasoning and inconclusive ideas and intellectual idioms. The ordinary versus the extraordinary gnaws at our perceptions of value and forces us into thoughts of what really produces importance.

 

Suddenly our work seems shoddy, ill-conceived, meaningless and ridiculous. Why write this drivel? Who cares? Somehow it’s become important to us in the making. Whether funny—doesn’t everyone need a good laugh once in awhile? Especially in this dreary state of affairs? Whether thrilling—doesn’t everyone need a jolt to feel alive? To imagine the thrills of being someone uber-competent? Whether soaked in romance—don’t some people need to experience the passion of love? To share in the joy of attraction? Whether cloaked in mystery and tensed in suspense? Don’t some need to feel the intensity of finding the bad guy? Whether taking journeys to times past? Don’t some revel in what they might’ve missed? Whether forsaking contemporary reality and fantasizing in fantasy or embarking on voyages to the future? Don’t those need to indulge the make-believe and test their imaginations?  

 

But can I elevate prose and story to the “important”? Will my words somehow convey this life or any life’s stature to the place it deserves? Or will it remain as ordinary as it appears to me in rejections and read-throughs? Will it ever achieve any kind of importance, any level of value? Is the Lord’s approval, perhaps just His smile, the only—and most superb—evaluation I can hope to attain? And if not His, then to what end?

 

Shades of the green and poisonous envy color my soul. How did he or she manage to compute such words? How did they use the same language and yet it flowered in some new bloom, a hybrid no one debuted until this writer bred the words and produced such worthy beauty.

 

And I persist in ordinary. Street talk. Languishing in unimportance. Along with so many others . . . Humbled in my shameful stew of incredulity and self-pity.

 

 

God, you designed this clump of humanity. The only value I carry is in you. Somehow I strive to please you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

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5 responses to “Ordinary v Important”

  1. Brenda Anderson Avatar
    Brenda Anderson

    You are far from “ordinary” Nicole. I love your passion and your boldness and your unashamed love for God.
    Remember, what we perceive as ordinary may be just the opposite to God.
    Do we spend so much time seeking the extraordinary that we ignore the beautiful ordinary all around us? Do we seek the waterfall and pass healing flowers along the way?
    When we write, are we doing so as an act of obedience, an act of worship, or are we doing it for validation and/or fame?
    One of my favorite movies is Pixar’s “The Incredibles”, a movie that deals with people using their gifts. One of my favorite lines comes from the evil villain, Syndrome, and it’s a line that sums up so much,
    “I’ll give them heroics. I’ll give them the most spectacular heroics they’ve ever seen! And when I’m old and I’ve had my fun, I’ll sell my inventions so everyone can be superheroes! Everyone can be super! And when everyone’s super, no-one will be.”
    We can’t all be C.S. Lewis or JRR Tolkien, we can only be who God created us to be and that is never ordinary.

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  2. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    As are you, Brenda. Thank you. So much.
    Didn’t see The Incredibles but love the poignancy of that line.
    Words are crazy things, are they not? Capturing them can be like herding cats. Some days they just ignore you and refuse to come in symphonic sounds.
    Thank God He loves me in spite of knowing who I am.

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  3. Brenda Anderson Avatar
    Brenda Anderson

    Nicole, you’ll have to watch The Incredibles. It may be a cartoon, but it’s incredibly deep. The creators really understand family dynamics and it even hails stay-at-home moms, a rarity nowadays. I’ve watched it dozens of times and always spot something new. It’s probably one of my all-time favorite movies.

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  4. Jan Fischer Avatar
    Jan Fischer

    Even Pastor Greg used a small clip from the Incredibles last week.
    You are Incredible. Your “words” never cease to amaze me. Not being any kind of writer, I see the beautiful thoughts you weave and love it. Keep ’em comin’.

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  5. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    Thanks for the recommendation, Brenda. I so rarely want to see animation, but you’ve convinced me it’d be worth it.
    Jannee, stop it. Just stop it. 😉

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