Designed to write

Our pastor, Terry, recently had a sermon about how it doesn't matter what kind of work you do, as long as you do it for God. I wholeheartedly agree.

But on the other hand, everyone has specific gifts, and we are happiest and most effective when we are doing what we were designed to do. My husband has an array of shovels in his garage, each created for a specific task. Yes, he could dig a trench with a spade, but if he had a sharpshooter, the work would go much smoother, easier, and with a more satisfying end result.

For the past several years I’ve been working more and more in our lawn care business. I enjoy many aspects of the job--being outside, staying active throughout the day, visiting weekly with our elderly customers, working alongside my boss husband, lunches out with him daily.

But I was made to be a writer. I’ve always known it. And I’ve done it, here and there. I’ve written articles and edited our church newsletter for over 10 years. I've done our neighborhood newsletter for the past two.

Some days when I've had all day to write, it becomes a chore. Ideas stagnate. Writing full time would be difficult. So maybe the two can be complementary. After all, I have lots of time to think and contemplate pushing a mower. I often work out whole columns in my head as I work though the yards.

My hope is this blog will be a place for those columns to get out of my head, and into print.

I wrote frequently in college, and was editor of my college newspaper, but in the nearly two decades since I've pushed my writing to the back burner. I always knew I would go back to it. I was a writer, it was like riding a bike--once I decided to write again, it would come back easily.

However, a writer friend told me that writing is actually more like playing the piano--you have to practice to keep up your skills. Darn.

So here's my practice. Come along for the ride.