SHARPENING THE POINT

by Cynthia Ruchti

On the hunt for a new fold-up lawn chair, all I found were school supplies. The aisles of the store had been stripped of summer and in its place--back-to-school.

As it is for most novelists, seeing school supplies fill the aisles isn't an entirely unpleasant experience. It's a candy shop of notebooks, journals, folders, pens, pencils... A nod to our insatiable cravings for learning and office supplies.

Even though it's been a number of years since I filled my children's backpacks with school supplies--Just a number, okay?--and decades longer ago when it was me drooling over new pencils and erasers and 64-pack Crayons, I still feel my pulse increase at the thought of fresh supplies.

But this is the picture that had the strongest impact on me when I left the store and raided my desk drawer for pencils for a recent let's-do-longhand-on-legal-paper-for-brainstorming session.

Why did it speak to me?

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THE RARE WELL DONE

by Cynthia Ruchti

It's the contest season. From small local contests to large, nationally recognized awards, it's the season for mailing in entries and entry fees, for waiting to hear about finalists, and waiting longer to find out if the book resonated with the judging committees.

The Blur of Awards

Philosophies for the shoulds or should nots of contests abound.There are obvious

marketing benefits for an author's career or an aspiring author's journey forward, if nothing more than evidence that it isn't only Mom who sees value in the story.

We know dangers lurk in contests, too. Comparisons, out of control competitiveness, self-aggrandizement, caring more about the contest results than the content of the story.

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SACRIFICE OF PRAISE by Cynthia Ruchti

I watched a woman in the row in front of me several Sundays ago. She lifted her head and joined her voice in song with the other worshipers. Not so unusual? Her daughter had miscarried the woman's first grandchild earlier in the week. Tears streamed down her face as she worshiped.

Across the aisle, a couple linked arms as they worshiped. The words were raspy, but the pushed through the pain of having an imprisoned son in order to give God glory.

Behind me, I heard a familiar voice. An older man attending church alone for the first time in fifty years. His wife lay three blocks away in the cardiac unit at the hospital. He'd been by her side since the latest heart attack. The nurses insisted he take a break while his wife rested. He chose to take his break at church.

Later that week, I logged onto a social network and noted a writer friend of mine encouraging another writer about a recent success. Others may not have known that my friend had experienced a career-threatening disappointment that same day.

Hebrews 13:15, Common English Bible--"So let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise."

Praising when it feels like a sacrifice adds an impressive depth of grace. Worship from a broken heart is exquisite in its beauty.

Disappointment in the arenas we care about most can force worship to the bottom of our list of go-to reactions. But worship then becomes a true gift to the Lord, as much a gift as a hungry family's blemish-free firstborn animal brought to the altar as a sacrifice to God.

Life's disappointments don't change who God is or what He deserves from us. Career reversals don't alter who He is. He rides publishing world shifts without tensing. Even the heart-wrenching is incapable of diminishing His power or person.

Worship may seem a challenge when life is hard. God's Word tells us He looks on it as a gift from us to Him--a sacrifice of praise.

If you're offering a continual stream of sacrificial praise, please know your determination to worship through pain registers in the throne room of heaven as an exquisite gift.


Question for you: When has worship cost you the most?


Cynthia Ruchti is a speaker and author of novels, novellas, devotions, and nonfiction including two recent releases--the novel When the Morning Glory Blooms, and the nonfiction Ragged Hope: Surviving the Fallout of Other People's Choices, both from Abingdon Press. You can connect with her at www.cynthiaruchti.com or www.facebook.com/CynthiaRuchtiReaderPage.

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