A Longer Silence

I must make a confession: I've had opportunities to blog over the last week, but I haven't taken them.

I've been busy, it's true, first with people and work at home, and then with the DSC conference here in Ashville since last Thursday. But the truth is, I've fallen into the trap of feeling obligated to have something "worth saying" to blog about. I'm going to stop doing that.

Ironically, though, I actually do have something to say today. I just got home from a mini DSC event down in Ashville, which was extremely fun. I'll share my two favorite take-aways.

1. On Saturday, David Miller gave an excellent overview of the concept of processional living. My favorite piece was an extended discussion of creativity. He said that, rather than being something interesting and fun to pass time with, creativity is at the heart of our relationship with God. He defined it, not just as artistic expression, but as any time we take the opportunity to make choices that are unique to us, that life itself is an ongoing creative work. I've been thinking about that ever since, and it really rings true. We notice creativity in art because it distills a huge amount of choices down to a single canvass, page, or song, but it takes even more creativity to respond well to the surprises life throws at us every day. If we can really settle the fact that we are unquestionably accepted and loved, that nothing we can do could make God love us any more or any less, than I think we can start living life out of a sense of adventure and creative expression. I'll be thinking about this a lot more over the next few weeks.

2. Somewhat along the same theme, I had a fantastic (and really unexpected) conversation with Megan, Jonathan, and David at dinner about my novel-in-progress. They asked such great questions, and really pushed my thinking in several areas. The main insight I'm working with is that I need to make my main character's situation much, much worse at the beginning. In fact, I need to make the world a little darker and a lot less forgiving in general. I don't think this changes very much of what actually happens (events), but I need to really deepen the why of it all (motivation), and give the protagonist a lot more to overcome.

It's so good to have honest to God friends...it seems like the more time passes, the more grateful, and even a little bemused I become about how blessed I am with the people in my life.