I love to pair this opening chapter with the opening words of the Book of John. If you haven’t read Genesis 1 yet, flip to John 1:1-5 first and give it a read. If you already read Genesis 1, I would highly recommend reading it again after John 1:1-5. It’s incredible! So, I don’t give you any spoilers I’m going skip down a line.
Are you finished reading?
Did you catch what John says? He says the Word was there from the beginning! He says everything is created through the Word and absolutely nothing can be created without the Word.
This passage spoke to me – like shouted in my face – a few years back when God was speaking to me about starting a journalism school for missions. He greatly impressed upon my heart the importance of the Word – the literal word – for which he gifted me a passion.
He showed me what an honor it is to be a writer, how set apart and holy I feel to be chosen for such a task as recording history and passing along teaching moments and even wooing the future generation, occasionally, with poetry.
This is how I want all writers to feel! As you know, we are often loners, pretty nerdy and dirt poor, so it’s hard to feel good about our talents! Alas, God says we have a HUGE purpose.
Someone in college once asked me why I’d rather work at a newspaper than a television station, where everyone sees you and thinks you’re a celebrity.
I said I’d rather see my byline in print than my face on television, but more than that, I’d rather just see the words on the page and know that they benefited at least one person.
I still feel that way today. Though, I sometimes lose sight of that, especially because we don’t always get to know if our words benefit even one person.
It’s super uplifting when we do get confirmation that at least one person got something out of the words we have written, isn’t it? Let’s consider that a bonus from God and learn how to thank him daily for the beautiful gift – and responsibility- of writing with which he has blessed us.
Writing prompt: In the beginning
Remember when you first realized your love of writing. What prompted it?
I think my moment came in sixth grade when Mrs. Lancaster had us write children’s books to read to the kindergarten classes. I wrote about a man who was so tall that he walked under a door and got a humongous bump on his head. I don’t remember the story or even the point of it, but I do remember my friend Misti and her mom, Marilyn, just raving about it. And I remember getting a few compliments from the kindergartners as well. It felt good to relay a message – which I think had something to do with pride or humility or something – through my imagination brought to life through words (and pictures, but mine were stick figures because we had to illustrate them ourselves). That does remind me, though, that several of the kids in our class learned their gifting of art trough this exercise. While my story did get rave reviews, several other students received tons of oooos and ahhhhhs for their artwork. I particularly liked Johnny Redman’s artwork. I don’t remember his book specifically, but I do remember it having a huge wow factor. I kept my book for a long time, but I think it finally got lost in the shuffle and probably thrown out. Today I’m thankful for wonderful friends like Misti Jacobson and her mother, Marilyn, well her whole family really. They were a second family to me. Their encouraging words are still guiding me today.
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