blank page

I hate the blank page.  As someone who loves to write, putting words to paper, the idea of wanting to write, but not knowing what to write or how to begin can be depressing.   Today is one of those days.  And normally that's when I just say, forget it, and don't post anything, but I'm forcing myself today, because this is supposed to be a spiritual discipline—to keep up my writing and to practice getting my words out of my head/heart and out where others can benefit from it.  

 

The phrase "blank page" reminds me of the song "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield.  I'm sure you've heard it a thousand times by now, since it is on every commercial nowadays, but here's a sampling of the lyrics:

 

I am unwritten,

Can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning,

 The pen's in my hand, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate

The words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

 ["Unwritten" lyrics found on http://www.completealbumlyrics.com ]

What a freeing song!  I think that's why I like it so much.  It speaks to those deep, closely kept questions in our heart that we all have:   what will we be?  What will we look like?  How will we be unfolded before others to see?   Will we be unfolded?  We don't want to be exposed, but we do want to be revealed. 

 

"The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed."   (Romans 8: 19 TNIV)  What is this revelation?  I believe it is when we understand who we really are in Christ and what he has and continues to do in our lives.   I believe it is when the blank page of our lives suddenly begins to have writing on it…when we begin to live in this amazing grace to our fullness.  "Live full lives in the fullness of God!" (paraphrase of Ephesians 3:19)  Am I there yet?  No way, but that's where I want to be, to be reaching for.

 

One of my favorite quotes is one I found through John Eldredge by Saint Iraenus:  "The glory of God is man fully alive."  God receives glory (significance, value, weight, honor) when we, his creation, is fully alive, living out of our purpose and out of our core being.   It is when we pass from just "doing" to "being."  And Gil Bailie wrote: "Do not ask what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive and go do that.  Because what the world needs are men who have come alive."   This is the quote on my signature for my email to remind me and all who get my emails that the world needs us to be alive!

 

It is my prayer as I look at the blank pages before me, as many behind me have been written, but more lay ahead, that I would truly live in those pages and not just endure to the end or clock in my time.   And when I look at the blank pages of my church, in its fetal stages, the book barely cracked open and the binding not bent, I pray that the stories and words that fill it will be ones of love and hope and life.  

 

I guess I did have something to say today.