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Friday, December 21, 2007

Ghosts of Christmas past....

Sometimes when I'm a little too harsh with myself, or feel unloveable, I remind myself of this sweet little girl, and my "scrooge-iness" is transformed into visions of God's grace and unfathomable generosity.

When I began to blog, I wondered if perhaps this writing about oneself so much is unhealthy, if it reflects too much self-focus? These thoughts, from Phillip Yancey's Soul Survivor, address that concern:


"Why do we do it, we writers? 'Of making of many [blogs] there is no end,'...........Yet we keep at it, cranking out more and more words, with the potential to bring harm as well as comfort. I think we do it because each of us has nothing else to offer than a living point of view that differentiates us from every other person on this planet."


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"Every writer must overcome a kind of shyness, putting out of mind the fear that we are being arrogant by thrusting ourselves upon you the reader, and egotistical by assuming our words are worth your time. .....In another context, Simone Weil presents a kind of answer: 'I cannot conceive the necessity for God to love me, when I feel so clearly that even with human beings affection for me can only be a mistake. But I can easily imagine that he loves that perspective of creation which can only be seen from the point where I am.' That is all any writer can offer, especially a writer of faith: a unique perspective of creation, a point of view visible only from the point where I am."

Well, this is where I am, for better or worse. Have a merry and blessed Christmas.