Writing

"Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch-digging, mountain climbing, treadmill, and childbirth."

These words came from the pen of Edna Ferber and are found in Peculiar Treasure written in 1939. Before Microsoft Word, before email, even before laser printers, people wrote words on paper. Like fluid, words spilled from the end of fountain pens and pencils onto pristine pages in dazzling plots and narratives.

Ferber was an American novelist, author and playwright. One of her most famous forays into the world of writing was Showboat, later adapted by Oscar Hammerstein. She was also a Pulitzer Prize winner who wrote prolific stories of romance.

She was an adept writer.

She knew her craft and practiced it well.

Ditch-digging, moutain climbing, treadmill and childbirth are incredible metaphors that reveal the amusing occupation of writing.

Ditch-digging....pretty dirty work and toilsome on the best of days.

Mountain climbing....all uphill and very little time to stand still

Treadmill....a lot of walking in place, but great exercise for never going anywhere

Childbirth....lots of blood, sweat and tears but the results can be great

Ferber was using these words to describe the task of writing.

Could these same words be used to describe the life of the pilgrim who seeks to live in the majesty of His unfolding Story?

Some days I do a lot of ditch-digging...some days I am climbing mountains....some days are sweaty as I walk on the treadmill....childbirth...well, I have seen it twice and have reveled in its result.

I wish all days were filled with pleasantries like Ferber described in some of her writings. But I have learned that life is life and as such, we have the joy of experiencing its unfolding drama.

God, help me not to complain when I am digging ditches, help me to depend on you when climbing mountains, help me not to bemoan those times when life seems to stand still and help new ideas to be born in me that will bring glory to your Name. Amen.