Wednesday, August 23, 2017

The Cost of Choice


Someone asked me why I loved to write. So many words ran through my mind, but one stood out. CHOICE.

I feel a need to write about the cost of choice, to show readers strategies that lead to success or failure. 

Life choices are complicated and serious. I’m not talking about picking your favorite flavor of ice cream. I’m talking about decisions that change, transform, and destroy. 

As a writer, I paint word pictures conjuring up good and bad characters and then throw them into a myriad of life scenarios. I allow their lives to touch one another in positive and negative ways. Once their lives are entwined, what erupts is not always pretty. Evil challenges good. One person makes an irreversible decision that often whiplashes onto other characters. Sometimes the weak become strong and the strong become weak. Other times the weak sink in despair and the strong get fiercer and more determined.  

As an author, this is where my role is pivotal.

The characters begin to ponder their choices. They look at how to maneuver through and around them. Once a choice is made it is hard to withdraw it without cost or stabilize it without regret and remorse. Choice shapes the course of one’s history, setting up internal conflict, igniting dry brush into forest fires or bursting a dry meadow into lush green.

I want readers to visualize the importance and cost of their choices. 

Why am I so passionate about this? Because I’ve made some poor choices. I see others do the same thing without stopping to think about the repercussions.

“Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.” ~Natalie Goldberg

So, I write and speak about what disturbs me.

Having worked as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused, abandoned, and neglected children and later working with their abused mothers, I am passionate about the topic of choice. So passionate I write about real-life characters (names changed to protect the innocent) whose lives are messed up because of poor choices, and the people that come alongside them to encourage better life choices and options for difficult situations.

God has had me on a journey, facing my own demons and ministering to those whose demons have cut deep into their joy. Cries of Innocence, Cries of Grace, and Cries of Mercy (2018) demonstrate how people can rise above abuse, disappointment, and brokenness.

 I have an awesome, but sometimes daunting responsibility as an author. When I write I am given the opportunity to touch the mind, heart, and soul of the reader. 

“The printed word only has the potential for meaning, implication, response, and result. The reader is the one who must activate that potential and breathe life into words. How else could the quiet printed text become an active interplay of ideas and feelings. Reading makes things happen as we imagine what the characters are doing, and how they are going to navigate through situations and critical choices.
Reading prepares us for the unexpected. It helps us share in a common humanity, encourages us to see other’s views, and depicts a myriad of life’s experiences for us to contemplate. Reading can make us see a new world or the same world in a new way.” ~Angela Beach Silverthorne, SUNY Graduate paper The Power of Reading

Choice waits in the palm of a hand, never suspecting the muscle tension as one finger after another closes over it, obscuring the promise of security or calamity. That’s why good choices are so critical.

All it takes is one word, one action, one deed to change everything.

In the process of writing and reading, we learn strategies for making wise choices. Never underestimate the power of the written word. 

Here are three strategies I use when faced with a choice:

1.     Stop. Don’t make a hasty decision. The world will not fall apart if you wait. Psalm 27:14
 “Be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.”

2. Pray. Don’t feel pressure to make a rash decision. Psalm 62: 5 “My soul, wait in silence for God only.”

3. Write out the options. Choose wisely. Pray over your decision. Colossians 3:15 “Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking . . . to have peace.”

Never underestimate the cost of choice. Make wise choices. Pray. Seek God’s will.

God bless you,
Angela



5 comments:

  1. Your writings, whether it be in this blog, your incredible books, or even your emails, are SO helpful to me. God speaks to me thru you and I am SO blessed having you in my life. Never stop writing! Your choice to do so blesses many! ♡

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    1. Thank you so much! You know I love writing. So many stories and so little time!!!! But I'm still plugging along, putting one story down after another. It's nice when other people say they enjoy my wandering mind! Hugs, prayers, and love. God be with you, Angela

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  2. I love how you put it all down to choice. It really is at the foundation of everything we do and experience. What I liked in your post was how you take your experiences and interactions in life as inspiration for your stories. I find that perspective simplifies finding a story to write about.
    Thanks for giving me some food for thought.

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    1. Thank you, Ailie, for your comment. Choice can make or break us. I've seen it too many times in my life and in other's lives. God has had me in ministry for a long time. Every person I met imprinted their story into mine. You can only imagine the jumbled up mess in my head. LOL Thank you, God, that You have to entangle it when I write. God bless you, Ailie. By the way, I love the spelling of your name!

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    2. Ailie, I'm LOL! I just reread my reply to you and realize I need a comment editor. LOL!!! You have to laugh when you are trying to type and the dog is pulling at your arm for a treat. God has humor! Trust me! Angela

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