amwriting | Ashley Raymer-Brown

What will you give Him? What is the thing you love most in this world? What is the object, the person, the corporation, the "thing?" That thing, that MacGuffin, that is the last thing you have to lay down. It should be the first, but, it is usually the last. Why that thing, you ask? Because it is the last, the very last barrier between your heart and His. What has He ever given you, you ask? He has given you Everything - He has given you Jesus. He has given you Himself. The least we can do in return - the very least, is give Him all of us....every last morsel. Even that bit we've been holding back, saying - "Yes - you can have it all... except "This."" "This"... is exactly the last of the currency. But fear not, for the rate of exchange is priceless. You give Him the very last piece of your human heart, and He gives you Eternity.

Why do take up our 
proverbial pen and write?
Why do we take the time
and make the effort 
to share our thoughts
and feelings and lessons learned?

Perhaps for the same reasons 
that generations before us did.
We are compelled. 

Words spill out of us 
and onto the page, 
liquid puddles of letters
that become words 
that turn into sentences 
that form complex thoughts
and emotions,
that leap from the page
and into the mind of our reader
who is perhaps contemporary,
perhaps generations ahead of us,
but who all say, 
"I understand what you mean." 

Writing is a form of time travel. 
A message from one kindred spirit
to another. 
Between the lines we say,
"I've been here before, 
just as you are here now. 
I survived, and so shall you." 

And our recipient, who may 
not yet even be born, 
closes their eyes and sighs, 
reassured that life will go on.

And that, I think, is why we write.