On Faith & Writing

When Michelle DeRusha asked me to write a guest post at Graceful for her series on Faith & Writing, I hesitated at first. The truth is, I shy away from writing publicly about my personal faith. Many of you who read are "regular life" friends. And while you are all gracious and respectful of my right to believe however I choose, I fear I'll alienate you when I perseverate on the beliefs we don't share.

And for those of you who believe as I do, I worry that I can't share the whole--the real--story in 400-600 carefully structured words. I risk painting myself into a self-righteous corner or (on the other extreme) demonstrating what a schmuck I am. Even when I write something totally and completely from the heart, I sometimes read it the next day and think, I'm such a phony. One minute I'm posting about how every day is a gift. And the next moment I'm yelling at my daughter because she spilled cottage cheese on her school picture day dress. Just hypothetically speaking, of course.

Anyway, I did, in the end, agree to write a post for Michelle's series. The fact is, no matter how risky it is to write about faith, it is by far the most personally rewarding writing I've ever done. This excerpt from my post might explain why:

Madeline L'Engle writes in Walking on Water:

Wounds. By his wounds we are healed. But they are our wounds, too; and until we have been healed we do not know what wholeness is. The discipline of creation, be it to paint, compose, write, is an effort toward wholeness.

Writing, for me, is an effort toward wholeness. It is the discipline of talking myself into truth. It is the process by which I find my faith strengthened, by which I pour out my heart and gather it up again with greater courage.

Visit Michelle DeRusha's blog Graceful to read more.