A Scribe’s Words

For me, writing carries a momentous responsibility. Each word is meticulously chosen and ordered in its place.

Words have power. Words are greater than many of us think.

With words, we can tear each other down. With words, we can build other up.

I detest writing for no purpose. As my cursor moves across the page, writing these words, I wonder – why am I writing?

In college, one of my roommates was musically inclined. By which I mean he could pretty much pick up any instrument and figure out how to play it. As such, he loved talking about his favorite artists and their songs.

One night, we were talking about Simon and Garfunkel, and my roommate made an observation. “A lot of their stuff doesn’t make any sense. People these days, they think that everything has to have some deep meaning. But they just wrote songs.”

Now, I don’t know if what he said is true or not. I’m sure plenty of people would disagree that Simon and Garfunkel didn’t think about their words. But it did make me think.

Should music – or written text – have deeper meaning? Do the things we write need to have a point? These questions are even more poignant for those who call themselves Christians.

As followers of Christ, we’re supposed to point people to Christ. That’s our purpose on this earth. So, especially as artists, whether we’re making physical items, songs, stories, or any other thing, these questions should make us think.

While I was thinking about it, I realized that’s part of the reason that it’s so hard for me to write consistently. Just look at these posts! Entire seasons go by without me even saying hello.

Now, I’ve gotten better. Just look at the journal that I finished at the end of June. The first quarter is taken up by 2017 and 2018. The next three quarters are divided pretty evenly between 2019 and the first six months of 2020. Though, the heavy self-analysis that occurred around my birthday might be part of that.

At any rate, I’ve grown more consistent in writing in my journal. But the affliction still plagues me when it comes to this blog.

Part of the inconsistency is this problem of how much meaning should be in writing. For me, there should be a message of some kind. A deep philosophical discussion that leaves people nodding in appreciation. An encouraging message that inspires people to get up and move again.

On a deeper level, this goal is sometimes brought about by a desire to be noticed and recognized. After all, if people remember the memorable things, I should give them something memorable. But that desire quickly turns to a place of low self-esteem and judging my worth by the amount of likes on a post. This, in turn, leads to shallow, people pleasing writing.

As artists, we should have the desire to be remembered and appreciated. But we should not base our validation off responses. What people think of our writing should not be as important as the goal of our writing.

Think about the authors and philosophers of times past. The ones that we remember are not the ones who wrote only to maintain their popularity, but the ones who sought to explain the world through their work. Many of the classics that we are required to read in school explore ideas philosophical ideas and real world struggles that we face.

So, that brings us back to the question: Should there be a deeper meaning to what we write?

As I thought about it more, I realized that, no, there is no explicit demand that, if a musical artist is a Christian, they must only write worship music. Likewise, there is no demand that authors of any religion have to include explicitly religious material in their books.

On the reverse side, what you write should reflect you who are. As a Christian specifically, what you write shouldn’t reflect the ways of the world. There should be something different about your writing. Whatever that presently-indefinable aspect is (I may try to define it later), it should be present.

I don’t want to give anyone the answer, because I think that this is something all artists should consider, but the conclusion I have come to (for myself) is this: Every word I write is dedicated to the One who gave me the ability. So it is not my concern to try and force meaning.

For this scribe, the words that I write are given over to God, to do with what He wills. Any meaning that He assigns to my words is greater than any meaning that I could try to assign. It’s not up to me to write something that will impact others. It is only up to me to offer my words as a gift for God to use to impact others.

There’s more I could write, but I’ll leave it with this thought from one of my mentors. While we were talking about this issue, he said, “Maybe it’s not about what you write. Maybe it’s about how willing you are for what you write to be used.”

Until next time, create, and create well.