Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Honesty and Happy Endings

In light of the fact that I found myself acting like a bratty three-year-old yesterday afternoon...and keeping with the theme of profound thoughts from strangers' blogs...

Another IWU alum's blog I stumbled upon a few months ago is Christin Taylor's Words on the Side. Christin was a couple of years ahead of me at IWU, so I don't know her (though I think I saw her in a play once). But she's a talented writer and I enjoy reading her posts. My favorite is the one she wrote last week about a recent hiking trip.

I had a somewhat similar experience on a hiking trip a couple of summers ago, which I wrote about in a Kingdom Building Ministries devotional last year. But when I read Christin's post, it resonated with me because she took the advice that Brad O'Donnell once shared with Nichole Nordeman (I quoted this a few months ago but it bears repeating):

"Christians are somehow prone to talking more about where they’ve been instead of where they are. Very few people want to speak up while they are in process… They’d rather wait until their junk is resolved, so they can give a 'testimony' about the happy ending. As it relates to your writing, please don’t feel the need to tie it up with a bow at the end."

I tied my experience up with a nice little bow and tried to make it all spiritual. Christin was honest, and in being transparent, she truly succeeded in helping me understand grace. Here's an excerpt:
I wish I could tell you how hiking Mt. Baldy, that stoney, brilliant mountain, brought out an inner strength. But the truth is it broke me. It made me ugly, and I resented it for that. ...All week I've been haunted by that 13 year-old girl [inside me] and the knowledge that she hides behind a very thin veil. I've been working through this realization slowly and thoughtfully, because I don't want to be mistaken about who I am or what my nature is truly. ...I want to see her clearly, because seeing her does a strange thing: it makes me grateful. It makes the grace that works inside me everyday sharp and close, like the razor edge of a mountain's crest.

I hope you'll check it out. The writing is elegant and beautiful, and the ideas are profound.

1 comment:

Kayla said...

I love that quote. It's so powerful and real.