Hope and humor: encouragement from James Watkins

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March 2010

Spring is my absolute favorite time of the year—that refreshing break between snow-blowing and lawn-mowing. Most of all, it's the fresh scent of new life, blossoms struggling free and forth from the frozen earth, and the cleansing showers that wash away the memories of winter. It is truly the season of hope!

Please visit every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for spring-fresh hope and humor.

"Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well" (The Bible, 3 John 2).

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Living in the gap

As a teen, our daughter would have loved to live in The Gap, the trendy clothing store at the mall. Many of us live in the gap, but it's a gaping hole between jobs or perhaps relationships. There are gaps in our health (three surgeries at three hospitals in two months for one stubborn kidney stone). No one wants to live in those gaps, but they are inevitable.

There are two major gaps in the life of Jesus. Twelve years separate the story of Christ as an infant and Christ as a twelve-year old. Then an eighteen-year gap between twelve-years old and the beginning of his ministry at age thirty.

Luke 2 fills in those gaps with two short verses. Between infancy and pre-teen:

There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him (2:40).

And between twelve and thirty:

And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people (2:52).

We rarely think of Jesus, the Son of God, needing to grow in wisdom and maturity, but that is exactly what Luke records.

As gaps open up in my life, my first reaction is to panic or get depressed. But the gap is also a time that God, in His grace, can help us to mature and grow through the experience.

Are you living in the gap? I pray that God's grace and the blessing of the people who love you, will make this a time of spiritual growth. And I pray that it won't last twelve or eighteen years!

[Originally posted June 15, 2009, while I was undergoing radiaction treatments for cancer. I've been cancer-free from 18 months!]

Some additional thoughts on gaps:
• Some thoughts on life's tough questions
• God is never late?but He sure is slow
• Squeezing Good Out of Bad

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to share your thoughts.

Keeping your dream alive

Here's audio of my keynote talk at the recent Writing for the Soul conference. (It's one of my favorite talks filled with hope and humor.) Click here for a printed summary.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Life is difficult . . .

Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.
M. Scott Peck from The Road Less Traveled

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to contribute an encouraging quotation.

Speaking at Grace College tonight

I'll be speaking to Dr. Terry White's writing students at Grace College in beautiful Winona Lake, Indiana. I'll be sharing seven habits of the purpose-driven writer and, of course, peddling my writing books.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Beyond Viagra: what women really want

While Viagra may have benefitted many men, our research department indicates that the following medications are in far greater demand among women consumers.

"Forget Viagra, Pfizer! Here's what's really needed," one woman responded.

Biagra

Has been shown to reduce anxiety attacks in males often associated with shopping malls and flea markets.

Criagra
Preliminary testing confirms the drug unclogs male tear ducts during weddings and "chick flicks."

[More]

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to suggest your own miracle drug.

Twittering my life away . . .

And while I'm taking a break from the serious series on seasons, here are some of my latest Twitter posts:

"Follow me. And not just on Twitter!" Jesus (from The Twitter Bible)

I'm not overweight, I'm underheight!

A friend of mine was excused as a juror because he had severe diarrhea. Would that be "jury dootie"?

"Meology: Self-centered doctrine" (From Writing with Banana peels)

A good writer has tough hide and a tender heart. Click for resources

It seems all my friends have been through the mill. Hopefully all that planing and sanding is conforming us to the image of the Carpenter!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The King of tides

The desert and the parched land will be glad . . . they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God (Isaiah 35:1a, 2e).

Surrounded by lush ferns, towering cedar pines, and majestic mountains, the tidal basin of Washington's Puget Sound lies flat and lifeless. Only dead branches, rotting

logs, and old tires emerge from this salt-dried waste land of brownish gray.

But hours later, the silver-plated sea spreads out across the barren land covering it with the sunset's burgundy, mauve, and dark pink colors.

Two times each day, 365 days a year, a "dry and thirsty land where there is no water" is transformed into sea of glorious colors.

Perhaps we, as God's creations, also experience the ebb and flow of emotional and spiritual tides. We climb lush mountain sides and descend into valleys gray with death. We taste the freshness of living water and the dry, salty taste of dust.

Maybe it is the harsh ebb and flow of life and death that hone our sensitivity to our world and our God—life and death, pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, and the glory of God and the despair of this world.

For instance, in the past few weeks, I've enjoyed the joyful splashes of celebrating our grands' birthdays, having a picnic in Hannah and Kaylah's tree house and reconnecting with writer friends at Mount Hermon. It's also been a dry, gray weekend waiting for ultrasound test results that will reveal the viability of our unborn grandchild.

Through it all, the unchanging rhythm of the tide gives us hope that refreshment always follows dryness. And, above it all, shines the glory of God.

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to share your thoughts.

Monday, March 1, 2010

For everything there is a season

For everything there is a season,
    a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
    A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
    A time to tear down and a time to
    build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
    A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
    A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
    A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
    A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
    A time for war and a time for peace
    Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NLT

"The Byrds" musical version
(Click here for larger size)

Help for hopelessness . . .

The recent high-profile suicides of singer Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son as well as former "Growing Pains" actor, Andrew Koenig, have put the spotlight on the hopelessness of those who take their own lives.

Please remember, suicide is a permanent response to a temporary problem. There is help and hope for depression or whatever

SUICIDE IS A PERMANENT RESPONSE TO A TEMPORARY PROBLEM

situation you are facing.

Click here for resources if you or a friend is thinking about suicide.

Top ten Web pages from February

I have in my right hand—direct from my home office in Corn Borer, Indiana—February's top ten most popular pages at jameswatkins.com. [January's ranking]

1. Home page [1]

2. "I just want to die" [2]

3. Were United States founding fathers Christian? [3]

4. Dealing with death and grief [4]

5. Top ten reasons I'm not divorcing my wife [5]

6. Does DNA disprove evolution? [7]

7. The hidden habit: masturbation [8]

8. Encouraging quotations [7]

9. What does the Bible really say? [9]

10. Three secrets to xxx-ceptional sex [26]

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Legal stuff and warnings

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