Getting There by Marcia Lee Laycock

Marcia Laycock is a pastor's wife, mother of three grown daughters and a writer/speaker. She won The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone and her devotionals have been endorsed by Mark Buchanan and Phil Callaway. Visit her website -www.vinemarc.com

“Done! Done, done, done!” My husband smiled as I did an excited dance around the room.

I had just finished the structural edit on my manuscript. It was a long haul and a challenge to my “little grey cells.” You see, this book came to me in flashes, in scenes and bits of dialogue. Unfortunately those bits and pieces did not come in any kind of order. In fact, they were a chaotic mess. So it has taken some time to put them into an order that will make sense and create the necessary tension and flow in the story. I think I have finally succeeded in doing that, without leaving any misplaced details or dangling threads.

When I finished I had a great sense of accomplishment, a sense that I am one step closer to being completely finished with this particular piece of creative work. But there is much more to do. There is more setting to be described and more dialogue to be fine tuned. There may be additional scenes to write and details to change. The work of editing, it seems, is never done if I want the work to truly shine. I’m willing to do that work because I’ve learned from experience that the end product will be much better for it.

As I worked on that manuscript this morning it made me think of the work God does in my life. It’s a work that will never be done until I am in His presence and that thought encourages me. He never gives up, never says, “Oh well, this is good enough.” He keeps on editing my life – nudging me to do this or that, putting people in my way who will sharpen me, books that will enlighten me and His Word that drops me to my knees. Some of the process isn’t easy but I’m willing to receive all of God’s editing in my life because I’ve learned from experience that the end product is much better for it.

A wise writer who had just given me a lengthy critique on a short story told me that “It’s impossible for me to edit bad writing. This writing is worth the effort.” In the same way it encourages me that God deems me worthy of His refining work. Some day it will be done and on that day I look forward to seeing what the final product will really look like.

“… we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52