A Season of Contentment

By Jebraun Clifford

Spring is a tricky, fickle season here in New Zealand, especially on the Central Plateau of the North Island. While the days may be getting longer, that doesn’t mean they’re consistently getting warmer. I keep glancing at my calendar and rooting for summer to make its grand entrance. However, the weather isn’t cooperating. Yesterday I couldn’t stop shivering despite layering on the clothing, and I’m just going to pretend I didn’t have to throw the wool blanket back on the bed a few nights ago because of a freakish cold front.

If I had my way, it would be summer year-round. You see, at my heart, I’m a California girl who craves the sunshine. I can’t get enough of summer. I love everything about it: dripping ice-cream cones and ripe stone-fruit, hours spent sweltering on the beach or by the lake, bare feet and floppy sun hats, loading up the car for a holiday road trip, and lying under the stars on a warm evening—not forgetting to apply plenty of bug spray!

But waiting for summer to actually get here can be problematic. I admire the swelling buds on my hydrangeas and all I can think about is how beautiful they’ll be when they’re finally in bloom with all their purple glory. I watch the rain shower down on my teensy, tiny tomato plants and imagine biting into a juicy beefsteak or popping a tiny heirloom cherry tomato into my mouth. I go to my closet and sorrowfully hold up t-shirts and shorts and pine for the day when I can wear them without also needing a puffer jacket and scarf. Spring to me is all about restless expectancy. I want summer, and I want it now.

This impatience trickles over in other areas of my life as well. As a pre-published writer (which sounds so much more optimistic than unpublished), I feel like I’m suspended indefinitely in the early stages of spring. I’m still tilling the ground, preparing the seed, getting ready to plant, when what I want is to have a hardback copy of my book in my hands. I don’t want to wait any longer.

I’m realizing what I need to have satisfaction with whatever season I’m in. Like Paul writes in the book of Philippians, I want to “…learn the secret of being content in any and every situation.” This isn’t a new lesson for me. I’ve had to put into practice this concept before.

When my children were little and I was still getting up with them several times during the night, I remember older and wiser mums telling me this season wasn’t going to last forever. That my babies were eventually going to grow up, sleep through the night, and I should enjoy the special cuddles while I could get them. Thankfully, I listened to these women and tried to cherish that early bonding time with each of my children.

When it comes to writing, I’ve had more than one conversation with authors who have encouraged me to have patience, enjoy learning more about the craft, relish the days of flipping open my laptop and simply telling a story without a deadline looming over me.

So that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to find the joy in this season, trying not to only look ahead to what could be, but also focus on what is. Some days I have more success than others, but I’m hoping to look back one day and be thankful I was content with the time I was given.

I’d love to hear any strategies you might have for being content!

Be blessed, Jeb

About Jebraun Clifford

Growing up, Jebraun Clifford always wanted to step through a door into an imaginary kingdom, so it's no surprise she now calls Middle Earth home. Too short to be an elf and too tall to be a Hobbit, she lives in the centre of New Zealand where she and her preacher husband planted a church over a decade ago. She has three children, a crazy Jack Russell named Bree, and Gidget, a tortoiseshell kitten. She studied English Literature at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and the Central Coast of California is still one of her favourite places ever.

Your Winter Is Over

Today's post is a little unusual, so bear with me. If you get to a point that you feel it's not for you, you are most welcome to go make some tea and carry on with your life, or move on to the next blog. I won't be offended in the slightest. Promise.

I decided to move our Allamanda from one side of the garden to the other. We'll be building a garage sometime and that bed will be abandoned. (You can read the tragic saga of our ensuite garage here.) I love my Allamanda with its bright happy trumpets, I couldn't bear the thought of giving up on it. We planted it way back when we first moved in, so it's pretty much part of the family. You know, that part that lives in the garden and doesn't come in for meals. Surely every family has one? Many years of happy growth means it was broadly spread on top and underneath the soil. I needed to move this rather large plant by myself, and the only way to do it, was to chop back the top and the roots quite harshly.  

I know what all the books say about transplanting - take all the roots with, dig a square 1m x 1m and so on. I'm a girl. I can only do so much and, in faith, I did. For weeks, seven to be precise - not that I'm counting - there was every indication that I had committed vicious planticide. The severely hacked branches looked good for only one thing - firewood. BUT! At the beginning of this week, I went over to have a look... and it was sprouting! Vibrant green life peeping through the seemingly dead wood. I won't lie. I nearly hugged my little plant.

Why am I telling you this? You see, that first day when I started hacking my plant in preparation for the move, I felt God whisper to me that this action was significant. I'm learning to listen when He whispers, He often says the most important things in a whisper. This is what I believe He was saying...

You may feel as if your life has been severely chopped back. Things have been stripped away from you, top and bottom. You've been in a place of fruitlessness with no sign of any life or progress.

That season is over. You have been moved to a different place - not one doomed for destruction and abandonment, but a place of growth and fruitfulness. A place of LIFE. For a time there was no visible evidence of His working inside of you, in your life - but now its bursting through the seams in glorious technicolor!

No more dry, dead bark.

Now green shoots and bright flowers.

Welcome to Spring!

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. She has just signed a three book contract for a YA series, Spirit Walker, with Pelican / Watershed.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Amazon& Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

Writing in Season

What season is it for you?

Here in western Canada, it is the dead of winter, though I know some of you are in the heat of summer! Winter may be my favorite season to write. I can cozy up to my laptop near the fire with a mug of something hot – I'll be honest; that's usually a homemade mocha! – and dream of happenings in other places. There's no need to worry about outside work on the farm, because we no longer have livestock. A walk on the country road most afternoons is all the 'outside' I need.

It's just me and my story world, day after day, and that suits me pretty fine!

In spring, outside is rather enticing, at least once the mud dries up and the daffodils poke out of the ground. The flowerbeds need a good weeding, the yard needs a back scratch (ie: rake) and, later on, it's time to put the garden in.

Still, my thoughts are often having adventures with my imaginary friends, and I scurry inside to record what they are doing.

Summer brings heat and the ever-present balance between the need to weed the garden and the incessant buzz and bite of mosquitoes. I'm not a lover of heat, so I do the minimal amount of yard work and spend most of my writing time in the living room rather than my too-hot upstairs office.

Summer might be the second best season for me to write, though. Or at least it would be if we didn't go camping so many weekends. By camping, I'm not talking about the local KOA with electrical outlets. I'm talking about sitting by a creek, miles from the nearest current (or currant) bush. I get a lot of reading done when we're camping. Sometimes character building and other story planning, but actual writing is a bit tricky when the laptop runs out of juice so quickly.

Autumn weather pulls me outside again with cooler temperatures and fewer bugs. Also the garden harvest is in full swing with tomatoes and other produce to can and freeze. It's definitely the busiest season of all on the farm. The first frost of the year is welcome to end the bounty so calmer schedules can prevail.

In 2015 I wrote in all seasons, but I got a good start in the first five months by writing three novellas and one novel. Two more novellas and then most of a novel followed in the summer and fall – a novel I finally finished the first draft of last week, though I'd intended to complete that stage in 2015.

Writing in season means something else to me, too. I wrote a Christmas novella in August, listening to carols stream from iTunes and pretending it was ten below (Celsius) instead of thirty-five above! It didn't always work. The novel I just completed, Berry on Top, the final installment in the Farm Fresh Romance series, takes place from mid-December through mid-February, and I wrote it in October through January – a much better alignment.

What about you? Do you tend to read stories that take place in the season you're currently in? As a writer, how hard (or easy) is it for you to immerse yourself in the opposite season in your story world?

Valerie Comer's life on a small farm in western Canada provides the seed for stories of contemporary inspirational romance. Like many of her characters, Valerie and her family grow much of their own food and are active in the local food movement as well as their church. She only hopes her creations enjoy their happily ever afters as much as she does hers, shared with her husband, adult kids, and adorable granddaughters.

Seasons of a Writer's Life

Life is all about seasons, isn’t it? Year in and year out we see them in nature. But we see them in our personal lives, too—good times, bad times; times of prosperity, difficult times; sickness, health. I’m sure you’ll agree that the seasons are here for growth, whether in the flowers and trees, the birds and the bees, or our own personal emotional, physical, mental, or spiritual growth.

I found a great Pinterest board with encouraging sayings about this very same thing. Things like embracing the season you’re in, or that fact that seasons come and seasons go.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy a visit to https://www.pinterest.com/ladybnubian/seasons-in-life/

Even the Bible speaks about these seasons of life in the book of Ecclesiastes—a time for this, and a time for that. The same is true for the life of the writer. We have definite seasons of summer, autumn, winter, and spring. I believe for the writer, the seasons begin with...

...that awesome, fun, and exciting season when our minds explode with new story ideas, when words (excuse the pun) spring to mind. It’s a time of busyness, a time of planting—words, thoughts, ideas. Oh my, isn’t that manuscript going to be magnificent come summer?

Mark Twain has this to say about the season: “It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”

And as writers, struck with spring fever, we want to get that story down on paper. So, with our ideas seeds sown, our story begins to grow, and before we know it, we’re into the heat of ....

...slogging and sweating to get to those last two words—The End—and reveling in the warmth of each day as we watch with excitement, anticipation, and yes, even anguish. Ten thousand words. Twenty. Fifty. As in nature, the days are longest during summer; the nights shortest. We work much, sleep little. Got to get that first draft done.

I love what Russel Baker has to say about this glorious season: “Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.”

We delight in the writing process, but let’s face it, it’s hard work. And oh, don’t we just love it!

“There is something deep within us that sobs at endings. Why, God, does everything have to end? Why does all nature grow old? Why do spring and summer have to go?” ~ Joe Wheeler.

I hate seeing a manuscript come to an end, because it’s almost time to say goodbye to a place that I’ve spent hours in, and a hero and heroine I’ve come to adore. But there’s a season that’s waiting, that must follow summer—it’s the law of nature.

It’s also the law of the writing process. Editing is the writer’s autumn and there’s a good reason this season is known as fall. It’s a time for all those unnecessary words to fall away, a time to kill those darlings with the editor’s pruning shears. But autumn is also a beautiful, colorful season, and the same can be said for the writer’s autumn because it is in this busy cutting and shaping season that our writing takes on the rich hues of a piece worthy of publication. I just love these two autumn sayings:

• October’s poplars are flaming torches lighting the way to winter. ~Nova S. Bair
• Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons. ~Jim Bishop

How true—for nature, for the writer. But autumn must make way for...

 And so begins the long, cold season of life. Every mile is two in winter says George Herbert and he’s absolutely right. There’s no season I dread more in my writing life. That waiting, waiting, waiting for this endless season to cease with that glorious publishing contract we check our in-boxes daily for.

Awake, thou wintry earth -

Fling off thy sadness!

Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth

Your ancient gladness!

~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

If you’re stuck in the dead of winter, ponder on this very wise proverb:  “No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.” And when it comes, our minds come alive once more with the colors of spring. New story ideas. New heroes and heroines to fall in love with. New armchair places to journey to. And, along with that, a brand new book to begin marketing before that long-awaited release day.

More planting. More work. Another busy cycle in the seasons of a writer’s life. I think contemporary Turkish playwright and novelist, Mehmet Murat ildan, hit the nail on the head when he wrote: Winter is dead; spring is crazy; summer is cheerful and autumn is wise!

What season of your writing or personal life do you find yourself in today?

MARION UECKERMANN's passion for writing was sparked in 2001 when she moved to Ireland with her husband and two sons. Since then she has published devotional articles and stories in Winners, The One Year Devotional of Joy and Laughter, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miraculous Messages from Heaven, and her debut novella, Helsinki Sunrise (White Rose Publishing, a Pelican Book Group imprint, Passport to Romance series). Her second Passport to Romance novella, Oslo Overtures, and her first Indie novella, Orphaned Hearts (Book 1 in her Heart of Africa Romance series), both release mid 2015. Marion loves writing romances set in novel places. She lives in Pretoria East, South Africa in an empty nest with her husband and their crazy black Scottie, Wally.

You can find her at www.marionueckermann.com or her Amazon author page.

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DEVOTION: Spiritual Spring Cleaning ~Yvonne Ortega

Note from Shirley: This coming Sunday (22nd September), the Southern Hemisphere celebrates Spring Day, while the Northern Hemisphere heads into Fall (aka Autumn). Hmmm. This is also my birthday. What fun! 

Whichever hemisphere you live in, Yvonne Ortega's message is relevant for you today.

Ephesians 4:24: “Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” 

Since I was a child, I remember every spring my mother and aunts would clean out closets and drawers, wash the blinds, and clean the carpet and drapes. They referred to their work as spring-cleaning.

The Bible talks about spiritual cleaning, which can be done during any season of the year not only in the spring.

My mom used to tell me that we couldn’t buy new clothes or other new items until we eliminated the old ones.

It’s the same way in our spiritual life. Before we can “put on the new self,” we need to “put off [the] old self” (verse 22). We throw out those old things that don’t go with our new life as Christians.

According to Ephesians 4:25-31, the old things are falsehood, unwholesome talk, giving the devil a foothold, stealing, grieving the Holy Spirit, bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, and every form of malice.

When we spring-clean in our gardens, we pull out the weeds, rake the fallen leaves and make room for the new flowers to come in.

When we do spiritual spring-cleaning and put off the old self, we “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” We bloom in godliness.

What does it mean to put on the new self? According to Ephesians 4:24-32, we tell the truth and build others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen. We work with our own hands that we may have something to share with those in need. We are “kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave [us].”

Dear God, please show me the things from my old self I need to put off. Amen.

Over to you: What will you put on this week that goes with your new self?

Yvonne Ortega is a counselor, international bilingual speaker, trainer and eleven-year breast cancer survivor. She is the author of Finding Hope for Your Journey through Breast Cancer (Revell) and a contributing author to The Embrace of a Father (Bethany House) and Transformed (Wine Press). She has also been published in several magazines online and hard copy. 

Yvonne hosted a blogtalkradio program on breast cancer, addiction, domestic violence, and other types of trauma. Archives are available. Visit her website

Globe image courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

PATIENCE

Spring - just the word alone evokes images of flowers blooming, the sun shining, new life and rebirth.

However, although it’s spring here, that isn’t what I see when I look outside. A few days ago, it snowed. And as I’m writing this, it’s dark and rainy.

But, I know it won’t last. I know the sun will come out, the temperature will rise, the lovely days can’t be too far off.

And it’s that hope and patience, that we must have as professionals to make our dreams come to fruition.

As Michelangelo once said, “Genius is eternal patience.”

So we must learn to endure it, cultivate it, revel in it, because, “Patience is the companion of wisdom.” (Saint Augustine)

A novel can’t be written yesterday. “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)

Good work, work worth doing, takes time.

And if we can learn to be patient, “Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.“ (John Quincy Adams) And before we know it, we get exactly what we’ve worked for.

So I hope you enjoy the spring, and come what may, summer is just around the corner.

Eva Maria Hamilton is the author of Highland Hearts, a Love Inspired Historical novel published by Harlequin.

Scotland 1748

The Battle of Culloden is over, but one Highlander’s fight has just begun…

Logan McAllister survived years of indentured servitude in the Americas to reach this moment. Now he’s returned to Scotland, ready to redeem the secret promise from Sheena Montgomery’s father – that his years as an indentured servant would earn him Sheena’s hand in marriage. But when he arrives home, he learns that Sheena’s father has died, his contract has been lost… and Sheena is engaged to another man.

To connect with Eva Maria Hamilton online, please visit her at www.evamariahamilton.com

Devotion: A New Spirit and a New Heart ~ Yvonne Ortega

Note from Shirley: In some parts of our world, Spring in springing, while in other areas, we are bringing out the winter woolies. Wherever we live, this message of Yvonne Ortega's is a reminder that in Christ we have new life.

Ezekiel 11:19: “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”

Bright yellow daffodils sway in my front yard and throughout the area. The dogwood trees have sprouted and form an arch of pink and white blooms on the Colonial Parkway. Everything looks new and beautiful. The area has come to life after a cold dreary winter.

We can also come to life. We can look new and beautiful because God works in us through Jesus Christ.

In that work, God gives us “an undivided heart.” When we have an undivided heart, we put God first in our lives. We are not torn between the way of the world and the way of the Lord. The decision to choose godly behavior over ungodly becomes easier, because we love God and want to serve him.

That new spirit is the Holy Spirit. When we invite Jesus Christ into our lives, the Holy Spirit dwells within us. We can quench the Holy Spirit through complacency, compromise, or condemnation of self or others. On the other hand, our thoughts, words, and actions can fan the flame of the new spirit through daily prayer and Bible study, fellowship with other Christians, and confession of our sins directly to God, our heavenly Father.

God also says he will remove our “heart of stone.” The heart of stone lacks compassion and kindness for self and others. The heart of stone holds a grudge and leaks the poison of bitterness, rage, and unforgiveness. A person with a heart of stone may show up for church on Sunday but that is the extent of the person’s acknowledgement of God and others.

After God removes our heart of stone, he gives us “a heart of flesh.” That heart is alive with love for God and both love and compassion for others. A heart of flesh beats daily for God and his children and prays for those who don’t live for God.

Dear God, please give me an undivided heart. Amen.

Over to you: What will you do this week to show you have a heart of flesh?

Yvonne Ortega is a counselor, international bilingual speaker, trainer and eleven-year breast cancer survivor. She is the author of Finding Hope for Your Journey through Breast Cancer (Revell) and a contributing author to The Embrace of a Father (Bethany House) and Transformed (Wine Press). She has also been published in several magazines online and hard copy. Yvonne hosted a blogtalkradio program on breast cancer, addiction, domestic violence, and other types of trauma. Archives are available. Visit her website.

Daffodil image courtesy of Marcus at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A Grand Spectacle of Promises

At a certain time of day, early in the evening, I make sure the curtains on the windows in our living room are open. I don’t want to miss the spectacle. Yes, right here in my home town, there’s a grand spectacle every evening. It’s a spectacle of promises.

We are fortunate enough to live on a street that is one-sided. There are houses on the east side, but not on the west. That side is still an undeveloped bush, full of birds, squirrels and deer. It’s there that the spectacle of promise happens. As the sun begins to drop, the light slants, hitting thousands of small catkins hanging from the trees. When the sun hits them, they glow, making the entire bush light up. It’s the promise of spring; the promise of new growth; the promise of the colour green.

As I have watched the glow become more and more intense day by day, I have been reminded of all the promises God has given us. They, too, are promises of new growth, rebirth and second chances. They are filled with words of love and protection, encouragement and comfort. They confirm the power of all believers to accomplish God’s purposes. They speak about God’s faithfulness, mercy and forgiveness and His desire for a continuing relationship with us. They outline the path to peace and everlasting life.

None of God’s promises are hidden. He has made a spectacle of them, displaying them for all to see. They glow like the catkins on the trees across from my house. They are promises that will never be broken.

The Apostle Paul knew this when he addressed the people of Corinth – “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” 2Corinthians 1:20

There is no duplicity in God. Just as we know those catkins will develop and bloom into bright green leaves, we can know that God is saying “yes,” to us. “Yes, I am here. Yes, I love you more than you can comprehend. Yes, I want you to get to know me. And yes, soon, very soon, we will be together.”

One promise that sums up all the others can be found in Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” All the promises, all the trials, all the events of our lives, are meant to culminate in what is good. For the believer, there is no doubt it will happen.

As spring creeps to its fulfillment, as we watch the earth bursting into new life around us, we can be confident that the same kind of life is growing in us. The same kind of renewal is possible. God is saying “Yes!” May we all shout “Amen!”
**********

Marcia is a pastor's wife, the mother of three grown daughters, a freelance writer and speaker. Her books, short stories, articles and poetry have won awards in Canada and the U.S. and been broadcast on CBC radio. Her work also appears frequently on the world wide web. She speaks often for Stonecroft Ministries and at various women’s retreats and events.

Marcia was the recipient of the Best New Canadian Christian Author Award in 2006, for her novel One Smooth Stone, published by Castle Quay Books. Her second novel will be released by Castle Quay in the fall of 2011. Visit her website - www.vinemarc.com