A Basic Flaw - M. Laycock

I did a risky thing recently. I spontaneously sent an excerpt of a very old manuscript to a very well known agent and made an appointment to speak with him at a writers' conference. He liked the excerpt and asked to see the full manuscript. I was, of course, elated, but panic set in when I arrived home. You see I hadn't even looked at that manuscript in several years and when I did open it I realized it was nowhere near being ready to be sent to that agent. So I got to work, re-writing.

The process of editing a very old manuscript has been at once humbling and encouraging. Humbling because there are so many "amateurish" mistakes, and encouraging because I realize how far I've come as a writer in the past fifteen years.

One of the biggest flaws in this manuscript was one I did not realize I was so guilty of - switching points of view. I counted five different perspectives in one chapter. Oy! What was I thinking? I asked myself that question as the long process of re-writing began. I chuckled as I answered it. I wanted to play God. I wanted to be omniscient, to know all things from all angles. It's a common flaw in amateur writers and a common flaw in our human character.

The Bible tells us it was the flaw prominent in the descendants of Noah as they began to build a tower now known notoriously as Babel. They had been told to scatter across the earth and multiply, but they thought they knew a better way. They decided to build a tower that would reach to the stars and give them all knowledge - omniscience - just like God. So God had to devise a plan to make them do what he had commanded. He gave them all very different points of view by giving them different languages. The result was literally babel and confusion and eventually their plan was abandoned and yes, in the end, they scattered across the earth.

Too often we try to play God in our lives, making plans and decisions as though we knew it all, without consulting God. Our society is guilty of this flaw as our governments allow "professionals" and ordinary "educated" people to make decisions that would be best left to the One who knows the bigger picture.

As in writing, it would be best if we acknowledged that, in the end, a limited point of view makes us stronger, because it is the way God has designed life to be. We are neither capable nor wise enough to take God's place. Perhaps if we acknowledged that more often we would not only be better writers but more humble, willing servants of the One who really is in control of it all.

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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 and also has two devotional books in print. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan. Her second novel, A Tumbled Stone was just released. An ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded here. Visit Marcia's website

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Delusions of Grandeur

Marcia Laycock is a pastor's wife and mother of three grown daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone, and has published two devotional books, Spur of the Moment, and Focused Reflections. Visit her website - http://www.vinemarc.com/

It was a silly, pre-adolescent movie. The plot involved a group of misfits who wanted to be super-heroes. They dreamed about it, dressed like it, talked the talk and even tried to walk the walk. In the end they do save the day, of course, in a manner that would make all those who love underdogs cheer wildly. But in the end, one of the characters has learned that it’s okay to be “just Roy.” It’s okay to be just a guy with an ordinary name, living a normal life.

We all have delusions of grandeur. We all have dreams of doing something great someday, something that gets noticed, something of significance. We all would like recognition, even a taste of fame. And of course the fortune that comes with it would be nice too. Deep down inside, we all want to be “somebody.” This common human trait goes back to man’s earliest days. There’s a record of it in the first book of the Bible. The writer of Genesis tells us the descendants of Noah disobeyed God and began to scheme. It seems they wanted to be super-heroes. “Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves...” (Genesis 11:4)

The desire for grandeur is part of us because in fact, we were created to be grand. We were created in the image of God, meant to be as glorious as a reflection of Him can and should be. So it’s natural that we long for it. But like the descendants of Noah, we try to achieve greatness in ways that God does not support. He tells us to serve but we want to be the masters. He tells us to seek spiritual food, the knowledge of God, but we want burgers and fries and everything else the world offers. He tells us to care for the poor and the oppressed but we struggle for prosperity on our own behalf. He tells us to praise and honor Him but we have better things to do with our time. Like the descendants of Noah, we want “a name for ourselves” and it is not the name God has given us.

All the things God tells us to do are meant to bring us the grandeur we seek. They are meant to make us more like Him. The irony is that we will achieve that grandeur only when we submit to Him and be content with who we are. When we discover that it’s good to be “just Roy,” a person living an ordinary life in obedience to God, we make a grand discovery. We realize we are growing into the image of God. Then the grandeur we seek falls in line with the grand creatures we were created to be, creatures who act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with their God. (Micah 6:8)

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