writing

Hitting God’s Target

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
For if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?                       
1 Corinthians 4:8 KJV

Often in this time when we have the potential to reach a worldwide audience through social media, it is easy to begin chasing likes, followers, or pages read. But God’s purpose for us as Christian writers is to tell the stories that He has written on our hearts and share them in a way that people can understand. Though there is no one way to go about doing that, here are three simple ideas that I have learned along the way.

  1. Focus on God’s Target – When politicians speak, we know that they want to win elections. When prosecutors present their cases, we can be confident that they hope the defendant is found guilty. But when a Christian writer puts pen to paper the first question they should ask is “not, “How can I gain followers, but rather, “What does God want to say?” Every good story we have begins with Him. Our personal beefs, opinions and goals become secondary. But when our hearts and minds are surrendered to Him, He often cracks heaven’s blinds just enough for us to see His target.
  • Accuracy Matters! Did you know that one of the things Jesus said the most was, “I tell you the truth “If accuracy mattered to Jesus, how much more with us! Accuracy means both checking we are presenting things with a solid biblical basis, as well as checking that ALL the details we are sharing, line up with the facts (just how big was that fish?). God will only guide an arrow to the target when we shoot it with the bowstring of truth. Few things have been more disheartening to me than discovering that a supposed “true story” that I read, turned out to be phony, exaggerated, or manipulated for financial gain. But if we tell the truth in all its details with love, then others can be built up, corrected or inspired.
  • Get to the Point! An arrow penetrates its target because it comes to a point. Long introductions on why we are telling our story, along with a variety of rabbit trails simply dull our message. I am inspired by the Apostle Paul writing from a Roman prison to the church in Philippi, tells his friends no less than nine times to rejoice, culminating with “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Philippians 4:4. In his entire letter, Paul didn’t once complain about the food, the cold, or the unsanitary conditions in the jail. If Paul sitting on death row could get right to the point, then why can’t we? So, friends, lets focus on the target, check our details, and let our arrows fly!
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Editing Advice from the Orchard – Part 3 – Removing that Fire Blight

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This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 
John 15:8 NIV

Finally, we come to the last and most difficult things to prune and those are the diseased branches. In apple trees these are branches infected with a bacteria called fire blight, and every old tree has a little. Though there is no known cure, a careful pruning can extend the life of a tree for years. If the sucker growth is the most obnoxious, and the deadwood most obvious, diseased branches as well as diseased writing, is the most obtuse to deal with. You see, sucker growth will never bear fruit and deadwood cannot bear fruit, but blighted limbs may still produce a few withered looking apples. In our writing, disease is not about the double negatives, misspelled words or run on sentences, it has to do with the why’s of our craft and the motives behind our manuscripts.

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If we are just churning out slick stories that appeal to the lowest desires of readers, there may be a bit of fire light creeping in. When we start finger pointing at the faults of others or stirring people to angry debate instead of compassionate service, it is time to ask God to heal our hearts. Eventually a blighted heart will catch up with us, and if left unchecked, will destroy the very purpose for which God called us to write. The secret is that just as trimming in the orchard is done in the Winter, God will choose the Wintertime in our life to root out a diseased direction. And in the editing of our writing, we will work best once the heat of inspiration has worn off and we can come to our pages, with passionless eyes, sharp pencils, and a determination to clear out everything that hampers a great harvest. Then we need to pray that the words we put on the pages of our life as well as our manuscripts will inspire readers to trust in God’s promises, grow in His grace and be filled with the hope that comes only from Him!

Editing Advice from the Orchard – Part 1

/ pastorpete51 / 16 Comments 
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. James 1:19 ESV

Though there are libraries filled with books, college courses and seminars on how to edit, strangely enough, I learned some of the best pointers on the subject from the apple orchard. After many Winters of frozen fingers and toes, while pruning those trees it felt like I was getting to know some of them on a first name basis! Now, back in those days I wasn’t doing much of the “be quick to hear” stuff, but as I have grown older, I am beginning to remember things spoken to me years ago. These words of wisdom that God was trying to tell me in the orchard, apply as much to life as to writing, So, even if you don’t fancy yourself an author, these just might help you find the path that He has laid out for you as well.

Clear Away those Suckers!

Both editing and pruning begin as process of organizing. When I start to trim an apple tree, I don’t just wade into it with a chain saw, slicing here and hacking away there. No! Instead, a person has to begin by clearing away the sucker growth. For the uninitiated, sucker growth means those long straight stems that shoot up both from the trunk as well as the tops of trees during the Summer. You see that sucker growth looks great, because it is tall and strong, but it will never bear fruit. Instead, just as their name implies, they suck the strength away from the rest of the tree. Sucker growth, in our life and writing is when we are trying too hard and saying too much. In writing, suckers look like crowds of adjectives or unnecessary rabbit trails leading readers down paths of our personal pet peeves. Sometimes suckers come in the form of fifty-dollar words, we toss in, hoping folks will see how brilliant we are. If left unchecked, these guys will grow taller and taller, but they won’t yield a single piece of fruit. What we should be looking for are the branches called fruitwood. Fruitwood looks old and gnarly, but it is filled with healthy buds, that burst into white and pink blossoms in the Springtime. As trimmers, our job is to eliminate anything that steals the air flow and sunshine from the mature fruitwood. Trimming out the clutter in our manuscript or in our daily life, might feel as if we are oversimplifying, but if we want our readers to taste the fruit of the ideas we are trying to communicate, we must not be afraid to ruthlessly cut back everything that draws away attention from the heart of our story and puts the focus on us, instead of on Jesus. So, if you are ready for a new year and a new perspective, then grab those pruning tools, put on your coat and a warm pair of gloves and let’s go out into the orchard and get to work!

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