I'm a Catholic Christian. Hence the blog description.
I love my Catholic faith. I love Jesus Christ and I want to love Him more. Truly, above everything else, I want to serve Him in all I do. I want to lead people to His infinite, everlasting love and to the knowledge that, because of His love, each and every person is priceless and beautiful.
That is literally all I want. To be used to lead the world to Him.
I am bumbly, I am awkward. I am hurting and I hurt people. I am a sinner. I mess up. I don't always have the words and I rarely have the answers. I've felt alone, I've wondered why certain things happen. How can someone as messed up as me be used by God? I feel this often when I am writing. How can anything I--a sinner--lead anyone to Him? The answer is simple.
There is nothing I can do to lead anyone to Jesus. It's what He does through me, what He alone can accomplish by sending down His Holy Spirit upon me. By the grace of God, I can be love to others.
God created me in His image and likeness. He gave me gifts and talents. I read somewhere (probably Pinterest) that our talents are God's gift to us and what we do with them is our gift to Him. Personally, I just want to give Him everything. Most especially, I long for Him to completely take over my writing and use it for His purpose.
This is hard for me, though. I struggle to communicate His message in my stories when I don't even write Christian fiction. And I don't want to write sappy fiction that involves a whole lot of cheesy church and praying. What I do want is to convey God's unconditional love to my readers. I want to write like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and even J.K. Rowling to some extent.
I just realized that all those authors go by their initials. Maybe I should publish under A.M.J. Schlueter. Sounds legit.
ANYWAY.
What I mean by that is that all those writers all have themes of Christianity woven so deeply and intricately into their story. You may have to think a little to make the connections, but they are pretty plain. Those writers convey messages of Christianity without even using the word "God".
That's what I want to do.
I want to be able to fearlessly proclaim the name of God. But some of my target audience may be turned off by the use of His holy name, so I have to be sneaky...and my battle plan is this.
All that I want to do, that I need to do, is present the truth about good and evil. I don't need to make truth look appealing, I just need to show it as it is. The truth is beautiful and it is what we were made for.
All that is true is of God.
I just need to present the truth, which we all long for. The Holy Spirit can take care of the rest.
I would like to leave you with this thought, from the amazing J.R.R. Tolkien:
"We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God."
So true. MHMMM CAN I GET AN AMEN?!?
Are there themes that you struggle to convey in your writing? How do you weave your passions into what you write?
Oh, this is so true! Just because stories are subtle, it doesn't mean they aren't powerful. In fact, I think they may be even more effective that way. And I love that quote from Tolkien.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it so incredible?! Thanks, Candice!
DeleteThis blog post just found you a new follower. I'm a writer who happens to be Christian, too, (of a different faith). And someone asked me if my Science Fiction Middle Grade comes from a Creationist View. Well, yeah, it does, but I didn't mention the Creator once. I don't know how God did it, but I do know without a doubt that He knows all the science that human scientists are still trying to figure out. That's my long-winded way of saying AMEN. JEN Garrett
ReplyDeleteAww, thank you so much, Jen!!
DeleteInteresting blog content! I found your page via bloghopping for the A-Z challenge. I am now your newest follower :)
ReplyDeleteI am not a devout Christian. Sometimes I consider myself agnostic. Nonetheless, I pray. So I give you an AMEN!
I featured a prayer in one of my blog entries. You may check out that one when you have the time: http://lostforwords101.blogspot.sg/search/label/prayer
Thank you so much for sharing, Maria!
DeleteI love C.S. Lewis. It's nice to know that even though we mess up or sin or fail, God is our advocate! His love is unfailing.
ReplyDeleteSo true! Thanks for commenting, Jennifer!
DeleteA.M.J Schlueter. That has a nice ring to it.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway. THIS POST. YES. ALL THE YES. We are basically the same person and I love it.
We should be best friends. Oh wait.
DeleteBe who you are and do what you want to do. Never apologize or hold back.
ReplyDeleteI usually don't think about theme while writing. If a theme pops up, I go with it. :)
A.M.J Schlueter dies sound nice. ;)
Thanks, Chrys!
DeleteEver read His Dark Materials series? Golden Compass is the most well known book in Phillip Pullman's books. They're pretty good books, but it's obvious he has disdain for the Catholic church. His message is about as subtle as Lewis' Narnia series. Nevertheless, my life is so filled with all the things that are profound, important, and necessary. I read to get away. I just want a good story. An underlying message is a wonderful way to communicate those deeper ideas and themes, but for me, I just want a good story that captures my imagination.
ReplyDeleteI intentionally did not read those books, but I remember when they came out. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
DeleteI have a definitive Christian theme in my books without sounding preachy. But people know there is a battle that goes beyond good and evil. Its the God of the Bible and Satan.
ReplyDeleteStephen Tremp
A to Z Cohost
M is for Movies
Well, good and evil is the battle of God and Satan. Thanks for visiting!
DeleteAmen. :) I think that when we create art that is good, true, and beautiful, it can't help but point to the One who is Goodness, Truth, and Beauty Itself. Plus, God is a good storyteller, so we can't help but steal all His themes when we want to write a good book. :) I've read works by agnostics and even atheists that have what I see as profoundly Christian themes of forgiveness and self-sacrifice and love. It's all hardwired inside us, and an intrinsic part of what makes us human.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a lot harder for writers, like Pullman, who do actively want to tear down God, because it requires going against human instinct and storyteller instinct.
AMEN to that!! That whole comment should just be a blog post.
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