On the Need to Write

The warm weather of recent brings pastures of dormant grass into colorful shades of the most pleasant green. The birds chirp and croon, more lively than ever. The humble pines sway in the breeze.

And yet some fear of mine rests in the cracks of my mind. That winter will come again and I'll be freezing, looking to add a heated blanket to the Amazon cart. That again the flowers will fade and the grass will wither.

Many a seasons have passed on the hills I stand, and many more are to come. Surely, if the Lord delays, I will stand on these hills no longer but laid to rest.

And will I be remembered? What a morbid question. That there may come a day that I am but a name to be found on Ancestry.com or perhaps a printed photo being sold at an antique store scrapbook. This reality both humbles and frightens me and how might I fight against being forgotten? The key is to place yourself in that which exists longer than your life.

You see, we all have words to say, memories to recount, lessons to share, relationships to tell of, and as the mist rises from the waters, and evaporates, so does the spoken word often leave the mouth to enter a void and disappear.

But by writing, we preserve our lives. Our stories live on for generations to read, for the grandchildren of our grandchildren who may never meet us but share in the legacy of our lives through the words we choose to share.

And yet many never bring themselves to write because they claim to “lack the gifts.” The innate calling has skipped over them.

But is writing not a skill rather than a gift? Like any endeavor, it requires practice, commitment, and consistency. And the reality of life’s time limit makes this matter of great importance. Greater than any money, assets, or material thing, our children long most to hear from us, to glean our wisdom, to learn from our mistakes, to know the origin of their story.

And so as the daylight lasts longer, the temperature rises, and the earth is filled with a colorful array of plants, make memories. Make memories of all kinds. But be sure to write them down.

Our lives are too short and unpredictable to allow our story to be unspoken. To be unwritten. Take to the pen and paper and tell others the stories you have. Recount the sweet and exhilarating, the sad and gloomy, the frightening and uncertain, the peaceful and lovely.

It's your story. No one else can write it.