One of my church kids asked me last week regarding my writing, “Mrs. Bev, are you famous?”
The answer I gave of course was a
resounding, “No.”
But the question begs a bit of further explanation.
One of the people who has helped me see my place in publishing with more
clarity was an author at a writer’s conference who likened those of us who are not
on big bestseller lists as being members of a chorus. Since I sing in a symphony
chorus, this example resonates with me. As chorus members, our job is to show
up and do our part contributing to the whole. We do not stand out as a soloist
would. As Christian writers, all our efforts contribute to the larger goal of
spreading God’s good news around the world.
Madeleine L’Engle wrote, “The amount of
the artist’s talent is not what it is about.” She was on big bestseller lists,
but still said, “ . . . my little trickle adds hardly a drop of water to the
lake, and yet it doesn’t matter; there is no trickle too small.”
L’Engle is famous for saying, “Serve the
gift.” She elaborates, “If we’re given a gift—and the size of the gift, small
or great, does not matter—then we are required to serve it, like it or not,
ready or not. I have seen people of great talent who have done nothing with
their talent who mutter about ‘When there’s time . . . ’ or who bury their talent because it’s too
risky to use.”
This instruction applies to so many other areas besides writing. If we have a gift, we use it to the best of our ability
as long as possible. All of us want to be successful, but what’s most important
is being good stewards of what God has given us.
I’ve written here before that one of my
favorite quotes comes from Teddy Roosevelt, “It’s not the critic who counts; not the man
who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could
have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the
arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who
errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error
and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the
great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at
the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly . . . “
To dare greatly is a good mantra to live by.
So, let’s get out there in the arena using
the gifts we have for God’s glory, and no, we may not be the most talented, the
most popular, or win our culture’s top awards, but the gaze of the One who
really counts is always on us.
“I can do all this through him who gives
me strength” (Philippians 4:13).