Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Purposefulness (Purpose in Life) (05/25/06)
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TITLE: Purpose Delayed Living | Previous Challenge Entry
By Billie Buckley
05/29/06 -
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Delay. Many of us are masters in this tactic. We sit and hold our cards refusing to play or fold. We stand on the diving board waiting to jump in or for someone to push us off.
Delay can be good; delay can be bad. Today, I have one purpose for this writing. It is to act out a life-long delay. I’m not sure how an everyday writer, who writes columns for everyday people who read everyday newspapers can do this.
Here goes…my delayed purpose is to write a poem. Let me assure you, there will be no tears shed over this poem. It will not take your breath away or have you searching for hidden meanings. (I know…I’m still delaying.) I call my poem “The Morning Mystery.”
Silence is broken.
Dawn is near.
Sometimes it’s even and clear
When silence is broken.
Sometimes my morning silence is startled
Awakening my sleeping fear.
The broken silence is always near.
Actually, it’s quite dear.
It’s annoying. It’s my friend.
It’s funny. It’s boring.
It’s my husband’s snoring!
Now some of you might smile and say, “That’s good.”
Many others will shake their head and mumble, “No rhyme or meter. That’s bad…really bad!”
Could this experience of a new purpose in writing for me be both good and bad? Is it possible for “good” and “bad’ to simply hold hands and walk together?
How can this work? Well, for me it was good because I followed through my purpose to write a poem. It was bad because writing one poem does not a poet make: especially a poet who has no clue what rhyme and rhythm are…much less conquering it.
So, how can bad become the friend of good? This question is answered out of my own experiences.
At times, we find ourselves in deep troubled waters…that’s bad; but the current of His love sweeps us home…that’s good. Other times, we become weary or wounded…that’s bad; then and there, He begins the healing process of wholeness…that’s good.
More than one time, the festering of suspicions and secrets consume us…that’s bad; yet, His involvement in our lives turns this festering into the wellness of honesty and openness and forgiveness…that’s good. This is when we feel the good and bad of our lives holding His hand as they walk together. He is the one in the middle.
My final delayed purpose in writing is to create a sweet story punctuated with lots of quotation marks marching boldly though my story. That will be the hardest purpose to achieve. I’m not a marching writer; I’m a strolling writer.
For fifteen years I have written and strolled through the lives of weary newspaper readers on Saturday mornings. Many are plodding and struggling with their everyday problems day after day.
They challenge my writing to meet their needs. That is my single purpose in writing: to put some good on their tired lives; to help them see the “goods” and the “bads” of their life holding hands and becoming friends.
Finally the greatest use of quotation marks was spoken over 2,000 years ago when our Lord said, “Come unto me all you who are tired and weary. I will give your rest.”
God’s great purpose to bring His children home is not being delayed today. I have this on good authority. His words from the cross resound in my heart, “It is finished.” (His divine purpose.)
P.S. Today, I too am finished being a poet and “fretting” over quotation marks. The end.
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My most memorable image: "Is it possible for good and bad to simply hold hands and walk together?"
Would that all of us writers labored from such a tender heart for our audience as you do. It shines!
P.S. Have you ever read the delightfully whimsical poetry of Ogden Nash? If he were alive, I think he would like your "Morning Mystery." His material might inspire you to find your unique poetry niche!