The Urge To Write

Our urges and appetites are curious things. 

The idea that we are autonomous beings is a fairly modern construct; for example, Jane Eyre’s compelling cry ‘I am a free human being with an independent will’. But is, perhaps, a mirage. If by inheriting a set of genes that correspond at least in part to what we like to do and our capabilities, perhaps our best response is to thank God for His grace…all this is freely given; you can’t earn inheritance. 

In this week’s Who Do You Think You Are? with Andrew Lloyd Webber the DNA-genetic link to musicians and performers from his own ancestral past is laid bare for all to see.

But is this a reworked version of atheism or humanism? No. In the New Covenant, we read it is the gift of His Spirit together with our new spirit that describes the human condition. It is this living communion that surely is the well from which all our urges for life and love find their genesis…including our ideas for writing.

Many non-Christian novelists, poets, musicians, and playwrights…if fact we can extend that to virtually all professions and activities…cannot adequately explain the origin of their inspiration. One dreams an entire song; another finds the words of a poem pouring out of a shell lying on a beach. It’s the same in Science – my line of work. There are so many stories of ‘inspiration’ that the scientist cannot attribute to their own cleverness. In 1985, humanist Professor Harry Kroto dreamt of his son’s football, and as a result of the pentagon and hexagon pattern in the stitching on a football, elucidated the structure of C60, colloquially known as ‘Bucky Balls’, opening up a whole new field of 3D organic chemistry. 

I digress. However we unpick the mystery of inspiration I think we can say writing for Christians is not a form of divine dictation – nor are the scriptures - nevertheless as we pay less attention to our talent and more to the surprising grace of God, perhaps we’ll find more inspiration? 

That’s my way of coming to terms with my very limited talent. 

Tomorrow, at the age of 18 plus numerous decades, I will be sitting A-Level English Literature, Paper 2. In my efforts to prepare for the two-and-a-half hours of continuous writing (with a pen!) I have read Othello, Jane Eyre, Michael Frayn’s Spies, Tennessee Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire, and much else…but also exemplar essays from 6th Form students that are so good, so impressive, that I am forever humbled, stumbled, and deconbumbled. 

I’m not an A* candidate either in writing or studying but I have this writing urge…and I have a sneaking feeling that deep down in my spirit (our spirits) God has been at work and words seem to spill out…even words that aren’t words, like deconbumbled.

Way back, in a song that was frequently sung in church, I Hear the Sound of Rustling, one line caught my attention and stirred the writing juices inside although it wasn’t until decades later that I actually picked up a pen

My tongue will be the pen of a ready writer,

And what the Father gives to me I’ll sing

I wonder if anyone else has been inspired to write by the lyrics of a song?

John Stevens: blogger www.unlessaseed.com, chemistry tutor, often in walking boots, golf shoes, running trainers, or eating cheesecake