Lesson on a Cruise Ship

by Marcia Lee Laycock

My husband and I recently returned from a cruise. It was a great trip, for the most part, but there were some things I found irritating. I often felt we were made to feel that we weren’t quite worthy of being on that ship.

One day we decided to go to an art auction. If you attended, you were automatically entered into a draw. I was a little excited when I won a gift bag. There was a watch in it that had a rather large price tag on it. That was nice. But then I realized there was also a $100.00 gift certificate included. I’d spotted something I liked in one of the boutiques. With the gift certificate I could easily afford it. So yes, I got a little excited.

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Beauty in the Darkness

by Marcia Lee Laycock

Winter has landed here, its cold hard boot slamming down on the country and its inhabitants with the force of a sledge hammer. We had been lulled into thinking it wouldn’t hit so hard this year. We’d only had a skiff of snow and a few days of chill, but nothing to be concerned about. So this icy blast is a bit of a jolt to us all. How quickly we forget the true face of winter, it’s harsh landscapes and bitter winds.

As I peer out my front window I shiver and pull my sweater tighter around me. The sun is just setting, the darkness dropping quickly behind the homes on the other side of the pond. It has caught a skater unaware. She continues to glide and weave across the small space as the light fades. And then it happens. Just for a moment the horizon glows, the light shimmers on the ice, the skater is thrown into a silhouette of fluid movement. And the beauty of it takes my breath away.

I am reminded that beauty is always there, just waiting to reveal itself, waiting to slip out of the darkness. I am blessed that I was there, in that moment, to see it, to be struck by it and to give thanks for it. It makes me realize that a big part of being a believer in Christ and a writer of faith, involves watching, waiting for the beauty. It is ours to bring these moments to light, to make them known to the world. We are the observers, the recorders, the ones who point and say, “Oh, look! Look!”

There is a great need for us to show the way to beauty in the world today, in the face of the images of wreck and ruin we constantly see in the media. There is no greater need for it than now. There is no greater need than for the world to know that beauty exists, that Christ was born to bring it back to us, to elevate it to the holy place where it was intended to be, because all beauty comes from the Father above.

Interesting, isn’t it, that the place of Jesus’ birth was likely not considered beautiful? It was a common, homely place. Some would even have said insignificant. But then there were those moments – the moment when that brightest of stars stopped over the spot where the Christ child lay, the moment when the angels revealed themselves in the skies near Bethlehem, the moment when their voices peeled out with the good news of His birth, the moment when kings bowed down and presented him with gold, frankincense and myrrh.

As we head into this new year let us all be watchful, waiting for those moments when The Christ is revealed through the beauty of this world. Let us all receive the blessing of those moments and then shout, “Oh, look! Look!”

"Go now, write on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness" (Isaiah 30:8).

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Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was also short listed for a Word Award. Marcia has three novels for middle grade readers and four devotional books in print and has contributed to several anthologies. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan. 

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded on Smashwords or on Amazon. It is also now available in Journal format on Amazon. 

Her most recent release is Celebrate This Day, a devotional book for special occasions like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving. 

Visit Marcia’s Website

Sign up to receive her devotional column, The Spur

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God's Best Plan: Stop Writing

By Marcia Lee Laycock

“Why don’t you ever have time for me?”

My heart stopped and I turned to my nine-year old daughter as she burst into tears. I gathered her in my arms and we talked. She had needed me when she came home from school that day, but I was glued to the computer screen, and had only given her a vague “uhuh” when she started to tell me what was on her heart.

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Guest Post - One Form of Heroism by Jane Kirkpatrick

I'm sure you'll be blest by this guest post by Jane Kirkpatrick. Be sure to check out her wonderful historical novels.
“And one form of heroism, about which few if any films will be made, is having the courage to live without bitterness when bitterness is justified, having the strength to persevere even when perseverance seems unlikely to be rewarded, having the resolution to find profound meaning in life when it seems the most meaningless.” Dean Koontz, The City.

For a long time I’ve avoided Dean Koontz books. I thought they would be so suspenseful I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night but my writing friends said he was a classic writer. Deciding that the new year means doing new things (“you must do the things you think you cannot do,” Eleanor Roosevelt) I decided to take the plunge and read a Dean Koontz book. The City was wonderful. And the quote above had me closing the pages and pondering.

I know so many “heroes” that meet this criteria. Most of them lived a hundred years ago. Emma Giesy whose husband drowned before her eyes while rescuing a stranger. It took her awhile, but she began to live without bitterness. Letitia Carson, a former slave who persevered despite the unlikelihood that she would win her lawsuit against a white justice system. Jane Sherar who found meaning through children, her neighbors, the Warm Springs people, when her hope for children of her own was never realized. Each of these and many more have taught me much about heroism as defined by Koontz.

I know such men and women are out there today, too. Some call them hardy; others call them pioneers. But enduring a hard time isn’t enough by this definition of heroism. It’s the state of mind that makes the difference, the courage to live without bitterness; the strength to persevere without reward, the resolve to find meaning when meaning seems most elusive.

New Year’s resolutions have never appealed to me, but I’m going to hang on to this particular definition as I write about the people who populate my days. And I’m going to remember these words when my mind might dissolve into bitterness or I’m too tired to persevere or when life seems meaningless…and yes, sometimes it does. I’ll remember that many have gone before me (you as readers, I might add) and as a result, I will take a deep breath, look out my window at my labyrinth and speak a Mary Oliver prayer of gratitude: “It is a serious thing/just to be alive/on this fresh morning/in a broken world.”
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Jane Kirkpatrick is the NY Times bestselling author of 29 books, most of which are based on the lives of historical women. A Wisconsin native and former mental health director, she’s a two-time Oregon Book Award Finalist, A three-time WILLA Literary Award winner, a CAROL Award winner, Spur award finalist and winner of the Wrangler award from the Western Heritage Center. Many of her titles have been Book of the Month and other international book club selections. 

Her latest novel is TheMemory Weaver based on the life of Eliza Spalding Warren, a Whitman Mission Massacre survivor. After 27 years on a remote homestead in Oregon, Jane and her husband Jerry now live with two dogs outside of Bend, Oregon. 

See Jane's other books at www.jkbooks.com.

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Not Just a Salesman – Not Just a Writer

My Dad in his shoe store

By Marcia Lee Laycock

My dad was in the shoe business. He started young, working in a shoe factory while still in grade school. He was taught how shoes were made from the sole up. The smell of leather must have gotten to him because when he finished high school he went to work in a shoe store and when he came home after WW2, chose that as his trade. By the time I was born he owned his own store and within a few years had opened a second one.

My dad knew shoes. He knew them so well that when he noticed a customer wasn’t walking properly, he advised them on what needed to be done to their shoes to make things easier. Word got around and soon orthopedic doctors were sending their patients to him to have shoes specially made. When he finally retired, those same doctors begged him to keep working, at least part-time. They said he wasn't just a salesman, he was a craftsman and there were few people of his skill around anymore.

I think of my father from time to time, the years he spent in apprenticeship, the obstacles he had to overcome to set up his own business, the satisfaction he had in later years, knowing his attention to detail made a difference in people’s lives.

I think of my father when I’m frustrated with my writing career. When I wonder what difference I am making in the world, I think of the man with a crooked leg who was able to walk without pain because of the shoes my dad made for him. I remember the three-year-old who skipped into my dad’s store one day, his mother beaming from the doorway. That child had been unable to walk barely a year before.

I remember the look on my father’s face that day, and I keep writing because this is the work I have been given to do. There have been frustrations and obstacles but there have also been those moments – times when I’ve received an email or a letter or a phone call from someone telling me how my writing has made a difference.

We are in the word business. Some of us started young, scribbling poems and stories in school. We learned our grammar and spelling and all the rules of writing. We've done our apprenticeship and have become skilled craftsmen. There may be times when we want to quit, when the obstacles seem too high and the frustrations too much to handle.

But we must hang onto those times when we know that what God has directed us to do has made a difference. This is the work we have been given to do. So, like my dad, we must keep on, until Jesus calls us home.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
****

Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was short listed in The Word Awards. Marcia also has four devotional books in print and has contributed to several anthologies. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan.

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded on Smashwords or on Amazon. It is also now available in Journal format on Amazon. 

Her most recent release is A Traveler's Advisory, stories of God's Grace Along the Way, available from Amazon in paperback and as an ebook.

Visit Marcia’s Website

Sign up to receive her devotional column, The Spur

Read More