Brain - meet procedure manuals

I.                    Creating numbered lists is sometimes a formatting nightmare.

A.      Microsoft Word alternately:

i.                     Decides it will cooperate, making everything align perfectly

ii.                   Decides it doesn’t know what you are talking about and things come out looking like they don’t match

iii.                  Decides it knows what you want even though it is not what you want and it won’t listen to you when you tell it its wrong

II.                  Trying to outline what you do in a way that tells others what to do is hard

A.      Translating your personal procedures into simple steps requires a lot of forethought about:

i.                     What you need to talk about

ii.                   What comes first and what follows (you can’t just start writing stuff down, you won’t remember something)

B.      Translating your personal procedures into simple steps requires a lot of thought about:

i.                     Common terminology, you can’t always use the jargon terms

ii.                   Screen shots of what you can’t explain but just need to show

iii.                  Not relying solely on screen shots

iv.                 Not relying solely on words

C.      Translating your personal procedures into simple steps requires other people to:

i.                     Read through your steps for clarity

ii.                   Follow your steps and let you know what is missing

III.                Creativity taking a back seat to numbered lists leaves you thinking that your brain is tapped out

A.      Creativity seems to fall flat when you have been crafting words for work all day long

i.                     Your brain fails to think of interesting vocabulary when you have spent all day in one corner of your language skills

ii.                   Fatigue emanates from that area of your brain that relishes the blinking black cursor as a challenge

B.      Fifteen pages of procedures leaves you dreaming of bullet points not plot lines

i.                     Waking up thinking about how to make B follow A kind of kills the attempt to figure out what happens to your character next

ii.                   Your plot and scenes start reading like a list rather than a descriptive experience.

C.      Writing prompts start looking like chores rather than exercises to keep your brain sharp. A number list sounds like an easier exercise then trying to create a story or idea out of your benumbed brain.

IV.                Time to put down the procedures and attempt to do something more creative…

But tonight… that is not going to be a writing prompt. It’s going to be planning characters and scenes for my novel. So, brain meets procedures and insists on thinking in terms of bullet points? Why not put that super organized brain to creative work. Let’s outline!

Devotions: Life of Moses Exodus 5-6:27

In chapter 5 of Exodus, Moses does exactly what God told him to do. He is flying high from the confirmation of the Israelite leaders and goes and asks Pharaoh, to let his people go worship for 3 days. And then the unthinkable happens, Pharaoh says no. Moses must have reeled, maybe even asked again, wait, what did you say? I thought I heard, no? No! Oh you really did say no! And then, to top it all off, Pharaoh makes life even harder for the Israelites that Moses is trying to deliver – again! This is Moses second attempt in his life to be the leader that delivers his people. And understandably, both he and the Israelites hit rock bottom. They cry out first to Pharaoh and then to Moses, who cries out to God. (This order is a little backwards so I think the children of God still have some learning to do!)

They are discouraged, and frustrated! Moses asks God why did he do this? Why did he bring him out here only to fail? The circumstances of his calling had changed dramatically. He went from being called on the mountain of God to deliver his people to being told no and causing more hardship. Moses must have felt like God needed to revise his plan. It wasn’t working! Something was wrong, either him, or the Pharaoh or maybe even God’s plan in the first place.

In chapter 6 God answers Moses. (For being such a whiner, Moses sure gets some pretty compassionate responses back from God, revealing God’s character.) In this chapter, God outlines who he is, what he will do and that Moses will do it. Almost an exact repetition of what he told Moses on the mountain.

To Moses – the change in circumstances demanded a change in the plan.

To God – the plan never changed.

How many times do I get discouraged about my circumstances? God calls me to something, and when I move to obey him my life changes, the people around me change, my support structure shrinks or my personality seems to do back-flips on my ability to do what I am called to do. But even though I think it’s time to go back to the drawing board, is God asking me to continue? He sees all, I have limited vision. Maybe, as with Moses, the set-back that I feel requires a complete plan overhaul was part of the plan the whole time. God’s plans are infallible, and he will make a way, because he is faithful to see it through.

If God has shown you a plan, and you think that circumstances have now made that plan void, be quiet and listen. Is God still saying the same things? Maybe your change in circumstance doesn’t require a change in God’s divine plan for your life, and for the world. 

Writing Prompt: Support Group

                “He just won’t listen.” Cassie says to the three people sitting around the table with her, her fingers wrapped around a chai latte. “He walks away when I want him to fight, he speaks like a pacifist when I want him to get angry. I try to make him angry and he just gets sad! I don’t know what to do with him anymore!”

                “I understand completely!” A small blonde woman on her right says, taking a sip of her tea with a grimace, “My Taisly says one thing, does another and is different from home to school! I don’t know whether she is two people in one or if I’m just incompetent!”

                “You aren’t incompetent!” The man across from Cassie says, “Darla, your Taisly has just got to be split into two people. Maybe she has a younger sibling?”

                “That could work.” Darla says, her eyes going glazed and looking across and over the shoulder of the man on Cassie’s left.

                “Whatever you do.” Cassie says, “Just don’t make it cliché.” They all shudder, and Roger leans across the table to take Darla’s hand.

                “Write through it. It’ll come out. Same for you Cass. Get through the first draft. They’ll fall into place eventually. Maybe your M.C. doesn’t like being the war-causing rabble-rouser you need him to be, but that can give him depth can’t it?” Tom nods at Roger’s words.

                “Yes.” He says, “Focus on the positive. You are at the halfway point. Don’t give up now!”

                Cassie sips at her chai, and looks around the circle. “Well, that covers characters, how are your plot outlines going?” Everyone groans and Roger stands up.

                “I’m going to need another latte for this conversation!”

Devotions: Life of Moses Exodus 3-4

This is not Moses’s finest moment. After spending 40 years shepherding flocks and raising his own family, Moses is finally called to do what he thought he was going to achieve 40 years earlier. You would think that Moses would say “finally! I can’t wait to go back to Egypt and finish what I started” or that he would understand that he is better prepared than ever to lead God’s people. Instead, when God says, “okay Moses, its time” Moses says “Why me? Who should I say sent me? What if they don’t believe me? But I’m not a great speaker and please send someone else!!”.

I wonder how many times I have uttered surprisingly similar thoughts or prayers to God. “I see them Lord, yes, I know this is the opportunity you have prepared for me to talk to them, I feel you Holy Spirit, you don’t need to push so hard, but why does it have to be me? I’m awkward and strange! There will be silence and I’m not prepared, I don’t know what to say! Why don’t you send someone else?” Moses’s excuses and failures are echoed by my own. I am terrified of what God wants from me sometimes. He asks me to achieve things that I know are above and beyond myself.

                

But God never asks us to do them alone. God tells Moses right off in Exodus 3:12 “But I will be with you”. Moses was never told: “Go and free my people, I’ll be here on my mountain, bring them here when you are done.” God knew that the task he was appointing for Moses was beyond Moses’s ability. That was the point! No man can accomplish God’s will. Only God can accomplish God’s will. We are blessed that God chooses to use us to accomplish his will!

                

Next time that I am confronted by a situation for which I do not feel fully equipped, I just need to remember that if it is in God’s will and according to His purpose then he will be with me. God is the one who will accomplish His will. I just get the opportunity to be a part of it.

                

Writing Prompt: A Magic Ring

                Zane isn't sure what it is, but it seems to fit his pointer finger perfectly. He knows it is a ring, that much is obvious, but he isn't sure what kind of ring. After all, it had come out of a box of healthy cereal, which had never had prizes before. It is heavy too, like it is made of metal, but metal didn't come out of cereal boxes, did it? He hops down from the chair at the dining room table and trundles towards his room, half-tripping over a red fire engine. Raising his hand up, he turns the doorknob and enters his room. Running to the bookshelf, he pulls out a box labeled “science kit” and tears it apart, strewing it around the room. Finding what he wanted he raises the magnifying glass to his eye and looks through it at the ring.

                It looks like the ring his dad wore on his left hand, grooved slightly down the middle and growing heavier by the second. Zane takes it off, setting it on the ground and looking at it again. It is dark in color, almost like his panda’s black fur, but it is shiny too. He likes the way it looks, and the way it looks on his finger. He thinks about putting it somewhere safe, but he wants to wear it again. So he puts it on, and waves his hand around, examining the ring from up high and down low. As he swings his hand upwards though, his whole body seems to lift and he finds himself floating toward the ceiling. He squeaks a little and then covers his mouth with his hand, feeling the ring’s cold surface on his face.

                He stops moving, hovering and he looks at the ring, and then points down, and he floats down toward the ground. With a little giggle, he points up again and the ring takes him upwards, he points left, and left he goes, he points right and he zooms across the room. The faster he swings his arm, the faster he switches directions. Laughing out loud he points back to the ground and lands back on the floor.

                “This ring is cool!” Zane says, and trundles back out his door toward the kitchen, only to see a little man, dressed all in blue, sitting on his table.

                “You are right.” The man says, a slight smile on his face. “It is cool.” Zane backs up slowly, and then, remembering the ring, points quickly back at his room only to find the little man in front of him again, his face only a few inches higher than his own.

                “I’d like my ring back.” He says and Zane can feel himself shaking inside.

                “I found it.” He says, hearing the shake in his voice. He clutches his fingers tightly around the ring, and the little man reaches down, pulling his fingers out of the fist and slipping the ring off of Zane’s finger and onto his own.

                “Just because you found it doesn't mean it belongs to you.” The man says, growing taller, and soon he is taller than Zane’s dad. “Now, run off and play.” And the man whips his finger towards the window and slips out. Zane rushes to the window and watches the strange man as he soars upwards. He feels his finger where the ring had just been, and he closes his eyes tightly, his little hands balling up into fists.

                Turning, Zane returns to the table, and opens the box of cereal again, pouring it out onto the table. Maybe next time he found a ring, there wouldn't be a little man to take it from him. 

Devotions: Life of Moses Exodus 2:11-25

2:23-25 “During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel – and God knew.”

I had a moment this morning when this verse just popped into my head, the verbs which were highlighted in my study this week, pulling me into a genuine ah-ha moment. God heard, remembered, saw and knew. He hears us, he remembers his promises, he sees us and he knows all of the circumstances that we are in. He is a God of the details and he knows us intimately. He hears and sees us, he remembers us and he knows our deepest fears and desires.

There have been times when I feel like the Israelite's feel, groaning and calling out to God. Don’t you see me? Don’t you see what is happening? Didn't you promise that you would be with me always? That you wouldn't give me more than I can bear? This passage acknowledges everything that I think the Israelite's might have been feeling.

Yes – I hear you. I hear your cry’s and groans as you suffer. I hear your distress and your pain. I hear every request and every cry for help.

Yes – I remember my promise to deliver you. I remember that covenant I made with Abraham, I remember that I told you I would bring you out from the oppression you are now suffering.

Yes – I see you. The burdens that you are carrying, the weight on your shoulders, all of those dead babies in the Nile, and the atrocities that have been committed against you.

Yes – I know you. I know how you were put together from dust. I know your father and your mother. I know that you desire freedom and a chance to raise your family.

But what about for me?

Yes – I hear you. I hear when you cry yourself to sleep because you think you aren’t good enough. Or when you are lonely. I hear your distress and your fears as you pray, out of desperation or joy. I hear you.

Yes – I remember my promise. I will never give you more than you can bear. I will be with you always, and you are my child. I will never leave nor forsake you and I am your salvation and your life.

Yes – I see you. I see that situation you are in, the stress you are under, the way your brow furrows, or the tears tracking down your face. I see you when you are alone or when you are surrounded by others.

Yes – I know you. I know the plans I have for you, I know where you came from and where you are going. I know why you act the way you do, and what you can become if you let me help you.

God is so awesome. He puts those four verbs in Exodus, and within it is wrapped another promise. I hear you, remember you, see you and know you. You are my child and I am your God.

And I am so grateful. 

Writing Prompt: Sound

                Kvette walks down the street alone, the abandoned and shredded houses staring at her with deep dark openings ripped into their shells. She had to be careful here, large predators liked to use the buildings to stalk their prey. She carries her refurbished speakers with her, tapping on them softly, trying not to let the shaking in her legs reveal weakness. It had been two days, her stomach protests again and she reaches up to pat it, her fingers white and trembling. She had gone longer than two days before although not willingly. She heads towards the houses, hoping to find something that wasn't completely destroyed. She was looking for wires. She still had speakers, but some of the others did not. The winds pick up around her and she curses, looking up at the sky, and the rapidly darkening clouds. The dangers of being in the heartland like this. Although she was safe from hurricanes and tsunami’s, tornadoes were a real danger at all times. Flipping the switch on her speakers, she curses again as the light doesn't turn on. Again, she flicks it, back and forth, back and forth, until at last the light turns on and she holds them over her head, tapping on her phone to call up the correct playlist for tornadoes.

                Popping a set of ear plugs in, she turns the volume all the way up and jazz music starts pouring out of the speakers. Then she crouches, in the middle of the street, and waits. Three tornadoes descend from the sky like fingers, meeting the ground and crawling upon it, ripping dirt and debris high into the air. They speed toward the town, and down the rows of houses. Things that used to be nailed in, but haven’t for a long time, speed upwards, swirling. It was likely that most of these piles of debris that used to be houses had never originated on this street, or even in this territory. Kvette crouches, eyes forward and down, arms starting to shake with the effort of holding the speakers over her head, and waits. The tornadoes converge on her, all three like hungry wolves and she waits. Then, the jazz music does what it’s supposed to. The first tornado seems to hum, the resonance of the music hitting it at just the right frequency and it lifts, slowly, off of the ground and over her head before setting back down, and rioting on down the street, the other two trailing it on either side. Kvette stands, turns the music off, and flicks off the speakers. She needed to conserve the batteries, there weren't many of those left either.