IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!

I said I would write the entry this morning and I almost missed it again, at least missed getting it done in the morning.  Yesterday was a nice day.  It began with going to church where the Holy Spirit had Pastor preach on the same subject He has been teaching me about.  He was telling us we needed to be bold in our witnessing for Him.  I already shared about praying that and then talking to the man outside the library.  This morning, as I was journaling, I remembered something I had forgotten.  The conversation we had started to sound familiar.  I then realized that about four years ago I had a similar conversation with a Black man in the same location.  I would not have recognized him, but it may have been the same man.

At that time, our church was holding an outdoor revival and I invited this man to come.  He said he would and I looked for him, but I did not see him.  When were talking the other day, the man, (either the same one or another) brought up the parable of the sower and the soil and compared himself with the soil where the seed was planted and sprang up but was choked by the weeds of the world.  Now, he wants to let God fertilize and weed the soil.

After church, I went up to the north side of the city where the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators) Chicago chapter was holding a meeting with author Julia Durango.  Julia has written children’s picture books and most recently a couple of young adult novels.  She works as a children’s librarian full time and had two young boys when she was writing the picture books.  They are older and more independent now and one was the model for her character in her YA book.  She gave a very nice presentation on plot, a trial run for the SCBWI national conference, which asked her to present a workshop.

She was asked how she found time to write with her hectic life and she said that it kept her from procrastinating.  She knew when she got the time to write, she had to use it.  There is a saying that if you want to get something done give it to the person who is the busiest.  I used to use not having enough time as an excuse for not writing.  Now I am guilty of procrastinating when I have a lot of time, so I understand what she means.

That comment made me think, last night, about Use it or Lose It.  I asked myself what we lose if we don’t use it, time being one of them.  Health was another, and talents a third.  That made me think of the parable Jesus told of the man who gave talents (a sum of money) to his servants before he went on a trip.  They were to use it to make more money for him.  One was given 10, one 5 and another 1.  The first two doubled the amount they were given, but the one with 1 talent buried it and gave it back to the master with no profit,  The master was very displeased, took away what he had and gave it to the one with the most, I began to think of how this would be told today.

I ended up writing a poem, but with a different twist.  It is about managers of a business and how they use the funds they were given by the CEO.  No one is punished in the end, but the company fires employees, and loses some of their customers..  I think it came out well.  I don’t have a good title yet and will let my writing group suggest some tomorrow, when I share it with them. 

I was surprised that all of the women stayed for the entire Cram and did not leave as soon as they heard me in the first hour, but they were enjoying the poets and their poetry.  The highlight for me was when a young man, who had been a gang member shared a poem addressed to God, confessing his sins and asking for God to forgive him and help him live a good life and to protect him.  He was crying as he read it and had many of the audience crying too  That was followed by a poem from someone who works with youth that have these kinds of problems telling us to look into their eyes and help them because they are victims.  I don’t know if it was planned that way, or if it was something that the Holy Spirit directed, but it was very emotionally moving. 

.After the Poetry Cram, which lasted till 4:15, my aunt, myself and one of the ladies from our chorus went to get something to eat. They had a good time sharing with each other about their husband’s wartime experiences, one in World War II and one in Viet Nam, even though they themselves are only a couple of years apart in age.  Both of them are widows now.

When I got home, I did spend some time online, but I forgot about doing the blog.  I was checking out e-mails I had on writing.com and commenting on some work.  I also spent a lot of time in Word trying to get my draft of my pigeon story broken down into where I think the pages should be, so I can get it sent in to the ICL instructor.  That’s Institute of Children’s Literature again, in case you did not remember, or are by chance reading this entry of my blog for the first time and have not read the previous days’ writings.  By then I was tired.  I believe I played one game of Scrabble online and then went to bed.  I’ll save today’s events for tomorrow’s blog, which I will do in the morning.