The Gift of the Master Craftsman | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: The Gift of the Master Craftsman | Previous Challenge Entry
By Daun Jacobsen
02/04/10
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As writers, we sometimes watch in awe, as words in brilliant color brush across the canvas our page. We read the final product and stand amazed; knowing that the inspiration captured within such pieces could not have come from us alone. A writer is an artisan of words, endowed with the ability to design and weave sentences. To write well is an enormous gift. Words hold the very power of life and death; created by God and then used by Him to create everything else. In the midst of our writing, it is sometimes tempting to forget that the gift we wield ultimately belongs to Him. There are times that we slip and take up the gift as our own, bid it to do our will, and then wonder growling in frustration why our writing lacks inspiration.

Writers are compelled to write, just as painters are compelled to paint. To go too long without practicing our craft can make us tense. Words bubble and percolate with power beneath our surface where they beg and plead for release until, at last, we comply as our pens (or our computer keys) burst into a river of ink. Indeed, when God pours His inspiration into us, takes us by the hand and causes us to write, we melt. This feeling of warmth, creativity and passion is the very reason a beginning writer will finally decide to receive the gift entrusted to them and begin its cultivation. Yet, if we are not careful, as we tend, water, and weed and the gift begins to grow we may begin to consider it not the property of the Inspirer, but our very own. Expectations mount and deadlines to loom, while pride and greed creep in quietly stealing us away from Master Craftsman. We labor with communicating His message but when we sit to write we are unable give birth to it. We try, and try again, yet nothing seems to come together.

When we take the gift from the Giver onto ourselves to make it do our own will, the blanket of joy that surrounds us when at writing under His inspiration quite quickly turns to cement and drags us into the ground. We wonder where the gift has gone, as we hold it tightly in our hands and crush it. Perhaps, it is the Master Craftsman Himself, who allows these times of frustration in our writing. Sometimes, it may simply be because the season for the message is not right. At other times, we wrestle because we need to be reminded once again that our writing is not our own. It is the Master Craftsman who invites us to participate in His creative work. He is the One who tucks the ability to write deeply within our breast. The messages He places there rise at His call. He draws them life and sends them bursting forth in their proper season. If we release our grasp and place the power of our craft firmly in Master’s hands, we are free to hold on with both hands as we ride the wave of His inspiration. Then, writing simply and only for His purpose, we stay enveloped in the joy of our gift.

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