Treasures of the Heart

Photo by Rinda Dean

Sparrow has done it again - I read Blogging Joy? and I'm inspired not only to leave a comment but to head back here and write. She causes me to reflect. She challenges me as I carve out this little space in the Blogosphere.

Sparrow writes "If you are a blogger, read through your last 10 or 15 posts. Is joy illuminating your words? I'm not talking about simple happiness, nor am I talking about hiding struggles. I'm talking about deep, abiding joy that shines through in hope and peace, despite the circumstances."

In The Writing Life, Annie Dillard also explores the purpose of writing and of reading. She characterizes it as one of waking up:

"Why are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mysteries probed? Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so we may feel again their majesty and power? . . . Why does death so catch us by surprise, and why love? We still and always want waking. We should amass half dressed in long lines like tribesmen and shake gourds at each other, to wake up; instead, we watch television and miss the show"

This, I think, is my task as a believer and a writer - (songs, journals and now a blog)

to waken my reader,
to lay beauty bare,
to heighten life,
to probe mysteries.

Some, like Dillard, handle words as an artist wields a paintbrush. The rest of us struggle to articulate thoughts and deep feelings - we edit- we delete - we agonize.

What shall we write about? Sometimes the blank page or screen can be so intimidating.

Other times we whip off an entry that with a click of a mouse is available to anyone with internet connection...

Selah.

A time to stop and reflect.


We write so that others will read - whether we have a few visitors or many. Our readers will get to know us because our writing is a reflection of who we are.

So, perhaps, the real question is not so much what do we write but from where do we write.

"For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks

(or the blogger writes).

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things..." NKJV

My hope and prayer is that Sparrow's Home becomes a place where the treasures of my heart are shared.

And where, even in my struggle,

the beauty of the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ shines through every word.

And now? I'm going to re read my posts and count how many times I mention joy....