Side Quests and Small Stuff—Faithfulness to Your Calling as a Christian Writer of Fiction
Several years ago I wrote a blog post titled Honoring God with your Fiction. Somehow, despite doing almost nothing with this blog since, people keep finding it.
Every time I see a “comment to moderate” appear in my email, I feel a convoluted blend of encouragement and conviction.
Encouragement, because I’m so glad those words didn’t spill out into the void for nothing; because I’m so glad that my conclusions helped someone wrestling with what I’ve wrestled with. Also, it shows that there is, for lack of a better word, a market for that kind of advice and exploration. Writers just like me are out there, writers who just want to write a good story but still want to honor God, who aren’t out to preach or write fables but don’t want to get caught up in seeking their own fame and validation ahead of the Kingdom’s, who perhaps worry that they are missing God’s calling for their writing as they chase their passions. There are writers who, like me, are hungry for help on how to balance amidst all of those pulls.
I’ve toyed with a few directions for this blog over the years, but this is the only niche that seems to have any return, for all my lack of effort. And even what isn’t ever read would help me sort through stuff as well.
And there’s where the conviction comes in.
I know the need is out there. The words are even on my heart. But I have such precious little writing time, and I want to spend it on my novels, or else I don’t want to waste it on something I can’t maintain, or I’m too brain dead to find the right verses to site, or SEO is such a pain…
Funny how you don’t realize it all sounds like excuses until you list the reasons all together.
I’ve always prayed that God would use my writings, that He would guide my stories, that He would reveal a theme or lesson to draw out as I write. I’ve prayed that He could use my novels, or at least my platform I gain once my books get published and huge and get movie deals and all that—
Well, there’s nothing wrong with those prayers, but am I missing how God can use me RIGHT NOW? Am I demanding, as it were, God only use MY dreams for His purpose, and refusing any side quests? And who is to know how the side quest might help the bigger picture, anyway?
My first love is fiction. And yet I’m always drawn to teaching as well. God keeps putting these ideas in my head, for this mission specifically—to blog for struggling Christian writers of non-religious fiction—and I keep neglecting it because I’m afraid to lose or divide my focus.
And see where that’s gotten me.
I’m still not published (that’s a long story, but I trust God’s timing). And in the meantime, I haven’t built this either.
Matthew 6:33: Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven- but have I?
Ecclesiastes 9:10: Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might- but have I? Or have I had the gall to decide by my own measure what is worthy of my might?
I believe with all my heart that God puts our callings and our gifts within us for REASONS. Nothing He designs is made for futility.
God reminds us in Luke 16:10 that only those who are “faithful in little” can or should be trusted to be “faithful in much.” I have recently realized that I am so busy chasing the “much” that I haven’t been faithful in the little at all… that is, I’ve been thinking of this blog as the small stuff, the relatively unimportant stuff, or merely the stepping stone to publishing my novels (Look agents, I have a platform!)
I’m hereby committing to do better.
Truthfully, my life is a bit chaotic right now. I don’t have much of a routine, and I don’t know how often I can post. But I can do a few things.
I can stop worrying about the extra 30 minutes to edit for SEO and trust God will bring those who need to read it. I can stop inhibiting my own motivation by presuming I know what has the most long-term value. And, maybe most importantly, I can recognize that God keeps bringing this thing up (both in my heart, and to those who find it), and that’s not for nothing. Maybe this blog isn’t the small stuff.
What have you been treating as the small stuff? It might not be your writing—I’m sure you have other gifts as well. And “we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). We tend to apply that to tragedy, but that promise applies to our good things as well—and even our small things.
So this is my commitment, and my accountability. And, as “iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17), my hope that sharing my convictions may help us all do better, together.
Feel free to share in the comments how you’ve grown in balancing your time between your passions and responsibilities… I need help, too!
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