Awhile back, I reached the Psalms of David in my Chronological Bible reading and mentioned how much I loved them.
I'm now reading about his son Solomon's life, and the editors inserted a couple of Psalms written by him. Here's the beginning of what I read from Psalm 127 (New Living Translation):
"Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless. . .It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones."
What comforting verses, as I struggle to find time to write. As I struggle wondering whether I'm writing the right thing. Whether it will sell. Here's my take on those verses. "Unless the Lord writes the book, the writing is useless."
I don't have to fret. If God is building the house, or writing the book, the labor will get done. And it won't be useless; it will succeed. And I don't even have to work until I drop to prove myself to him. He'll give me rest.
I thought it was a little odd that the next verses abruptly switched to the subject of children. "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him." (v. 3) Since I wasn't able to have children, verses like this sometimes make me feel bad. But for me, being a writer, my characters feel like my children. Somewhere I once heard them called "children of the mind."
If God will bless them and grow them, that will be a great reward for me!
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I read a sleep study online just before I came here, so I have a different take on the verse. Research has shown that having children is the greatest risk factor for insomnia. Not only at birth--when we would expect that to be true--but forever after, especially for the woman who becomes super-sensitive to sounds while she's sleeping.
ReplyDeleteSo ... God may have been reminding those sleep deprived parents that cry out, "Rest?!? Where's my rest, God?" when they read that verse that children ARE treasures. ;-)
Boy, I can relate to that, Christina.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't our characters cause insomnia? Mine wake me up at night and want me to figure out their next scene!
But that is a great thought. Unless the Lord writes the book, the writers write in vain. It is really amazing to me how my spiritual life is tied to my writing life. As I mature spiritually, the writing lessons I'm learning seem to fall right into step. They almost seem to go hand in hand, not to mention the spiritual aspect of the writing process.
Thought-provoking as usual, Robin! When I grow up, I want to think as deep as you do. LOL More seriously, it is a good reminder and certainly fits where I am in life with moving and starting a new job working with kids (4-yr-olds, no less) this week. I'm going to be exhausted and might need that reminder that each of them is a gift from the Lord. ;^D
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated this post, Robin. Our work really has to be the Lord's work for it to count for anything. As many years as Christina and I have spent on writing, I sure don't want it to be in vain.
ReplyDeleteIn line with what you wrote,we are anxiously awaiting the results of our pregnancy test. Meaning that our book went to committee today and we are waiting to hear back! (Don't start any rumors that this fifty-six year old is pregnant!!)
Thanks for dropping me a note about my latest blog. Sometimes I think it really doesn't matter if I blog or not, as I'm not sure anyone reads it. So you were an encouragement!