Tag: write

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Destiny

“To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.”
― T.S. Eliot, The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism

I played it safe for most of my life. I have lived in a “self-protective” mode. Don’t do anything or push too hard. There is too much to lose. What if I said something that would cause people to not like me? Or worse, what if people got so worked up they wanted to get rid of me? What would I do?

I am blessed to still be young enough to change the course of my life. That’s what I am doing. No longer do I care if someone doesn’t like me. It is not that I am trying to piss people off but that is no longer a concern. As Eliot says above, to say the courageous thing as well as contemplate the beautiful is a life well lived. Perhaps it is also the path toward the useful thing. I do not want to squander the opportunity. To live in this way is to embrace the fullness of the gift of life we have been given. No one remembers playing it safe as one leaves this world. I am not sure I want to dive out of an airplane, unleashing a parachute at the right moment. But that may be a metaphor for the call which I am discerning as I move forward.

I was offered an opportunity last night to consider writing a Christian-based political column. To do so will focus my energy toward the courageous. But that is the door through which one makes a life. I am blessed to decide that I will no longer remain quiet. I will say the courageous thing. To do so I will also contemplate the beautiful. After all that is where courage begins. And that is also the only way to do the useful.

Until next time,

DP

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How you doing?

I was asked recently, “so how’s it going?” That’s an interesting question. “It’s going well,” would be the obvious answer but I don’t like the obvious. I thought about my family. Yes, they’re well, though my grandchildren seem to fight viruses on a fairly regular basis. I thought about Julie. Though she recently had to fight an intestinal bug herself, she’s doing well too. My mind quickly shifted to my exercise regimen. Yes that’s going well. I’ve learned to wear a swimming cap during my daily lap swim so my hair isn’t going “bleached blond.” That is going well. My diet? Yes. What else? My social media presence? Well I deleted that for the time being so the inherent hassles of an internet footprint have been temporarily eliminated. All good.

Oh my writing. Let me you in on something I’ve discovered. I hoped this was the case but I am increasingly aware of something that makes demands on me. I am supposed to write. Yes. I am called to be a writer. Weird isn’t it. I mean who talks that way?

When I was serving in the Episcopal Church that kind of talk was expected. Who would want to be a priest unless she was “called?” There’s too much to deal with to do it on a lark. There are a lot of other ways to draw a paycheck than dealing with Vestry meetings, recalcitrant staff members and the complaints of parishioners. I suppose it might surprise some that there are a few folks who actually end up being ordained but never felt “called.” But I’ll leave that for another post.

What do I mean that I am called to write? Isn’t that a bit presumptuous? After all the book I am writing isn’t finished. So what. I’ve actually learned a lot these past few months that the process of writing is more important than the end result. Oh the end result will come. Eventually. But setting side a time each day to engage in the act of writing has revealed something incredible. A writer’s greatest challenge is the writing itself. Oh you knew that already? It took me sometime to understand but I am grateful that the Muse (or my subconscious?) finally decided to let me in on the secret.

So my journey continues. Do I feel qualified for this journey? Yes. Faulkner weighed in on this when he said: “A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination- any two of which, at time any one of which- can supply the lack of others.”- William Faulkner (from a 1956 interview with The Paris Review).

Thank God. I have all three of those attributes on my resume.

Until next time,

DP