Morning (but not afternoon) glories

 

Earlier this year, a friend very kindly gave some morning glory seeds. Despite my best efforts, they somehow survived, and the result has been a host of beautiful purple flowers clambering up our shed (apart from the more adventurous ones who attempted to make it over the fence into next door’s garden). 


 What I quickly discovered about morning glories is that the individual flowers don’t last long. (I guess the name is a bit of a giveaway …) Each morning, I’d open the blind to discover a fresh crop of blooms, but by early afternoon they would shrivel and wilt.

 

One of my favourite Bible verses is in Lamentations, where we are reminded that “Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning” (Lamentations 3:23, NLT). And while my morning glories will soon succumb to the cooler autumn air, God’s compassion is freely available to me each and every day.

 

So, what does this have to do with writing?

 

Every writer I’ve ever spoken to has good days and bad days; the days when you find yourself dancing round the supermarket because someone complimented you on something you’d written, and the days when you’re tempted to hurl your laptop/typewriter/quill and parchment out of the window following yet another rejection. Sometimes the words cascade from our fingertips as we hunch over the keyboard, while on other occasions we take half an hour to write a single sentence (which then gets edited out in the second draft, anyway).

 

In writing, as in our walk with God, each new day brings a fresh opportunity to try again (or maybe to start again). Yesterday may have been tough, but today we can approach our writing with fresh eyes or find inspiration to try something new. And if yesterday was a good one then we can be thankful as we press on with the next chapter or project.

 

Are you with me?


Fiona Lloyd is Chair of the Association of Christian Writers  and writes regularly for Together magazine. Her first novel, The Diary of a (trying to be holy) Mum, was published by Instant Apostle in January 2018. Fiona also works for Christians Against Poverty.


Comments

  1. Oh, for so much more 'cascading' of words. Those are the best days. Thanks for the encouragement, Fiona!

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    1. Thanks for responding, Fran. I tend to end up in the one-sentence-per-half-hour category far too often - but it's amazing on the rare occasions when the words really flow!

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  2. Thanks Fiona. Very much with you!! Reading this post reminded me of a hymn in Songs of Praise -
    'New every morning is the love our wakening and uprising proves;
    through sleep and darkness safely brought,
    restored to life and power and thought!

    Everyday, for us as writers, is yet another fresh opportunity, to achieve that goal, just as the Morning Glory flowers have their own opportunity in the morning to shine the glory of their maker!
    Lovely post! Enjoyed singing the hymn and encouraged to strive on at where I am in my writing! Blessings!!

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    1. Thanks, Sophia - I'd forgotten about that hymn, but it's a lovely one!

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  3. I love those verses in Lamentations, seated as they are among some quite dismal ones about the fall of Jerusalem. I have meditated on these verses a lot, recently, they are very rich in our personal lives and in our writing lives too. Thanks for sharing, Fiona.

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    1. Thanks, Sheila - it's a passage I keep coming back to.

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  4. Thank you so much. Might not be feeling so glorious this morning, but thankful that there is hope for a better start every day! And I tend to function better in the afternoons, so maybe late I'll be a little more glorious!

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    1. Thanks, Joy - I think I'm more of an afternoon glory, too!

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  5. I'm with you! On days when friends have been out walking on the moors and all I've done is re-edit the same page several times, I ask myself, should I give up? Like NOW? But I don't want to. I can't. That's all there is to it.

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    1. I'm glad it's not just me who feels that way! Thanks for reading and commenting.

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  6. I often feel like a morning glory, although so far I have resisted climbing over my neighbour's fence. Great post, Fiona.

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    1. There's a first time for everything! Thanks, Ruth.

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  7. Thanks Fiona - just what I needed on a day that is grey and rainy outside and inside.

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