Holding Tighter or Letting Go?

“The first author of beauty made all things,” Wisdom 13:3.  Author, that caught my attention. This theme continued in the rest of my devotions. 

Psalm 19: “There are no speeches nor languages, where their voices are not heard. Their sound has gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the world.” Verses 4 and 5.

What author doesn’t hope that will happen to them? 

Then came the words, “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life, will save it.” Luke 17:33

Eek! 

I am wallowing in grand dreams of becoming a best-selling author, and God brings me up short.

In my devotion, Living Faith, Author Amy Welborn, asked how we intend to lose our lives for God. This isn’t meant in the literal sense, as in physically dying, but in what we are asked to lose in order to follow God’s plan for our life.

Writing takes tremendous sacrifice. We spend hours in solitary confinement sitting at a desk with pen and paper, laptop, or computer. One of my former coworkers, a traditionally published author, with looming deadlines couldn’t participate in the company Christmas party or attend her grandchildren’s Christmas pageants. Even Indie authors face similar sacrifices, often faced with unpleasant choices without happy solutions.

There are more than physical losses. We bare our souls on each page, letting go of our privacy, revealing our innermost thoughts, desires, and fears. We could hold them tight, and let our stories suffer, but by letting go, our words (hopefully) encourage, inspire, or entertain. Lightening another’s burden by pulling them away from their troubles for a short time is as important as writing the next literary classic, maybe even more so. When overwhelmed with insurmountable problems, who wants to read War and Peace? (No offense intended to that great work or its author.)

No. I think most will reach for something that will make them feel better, either by telling them they are not alone, they are loved, they are good enough, or by offering them a reason to laugh.

A noble cause, worth the sacrifice, which brings us right back to letting go of ourselves and other things and be the storyteller God calls us to be, holding tight to our faith, our dedication, and our promise to obey.