Sometimes I Miss Messy Newsprint

Once upon a time, I fancied myself a beloved newspaper columnist. I did! I grew up loving Erma Bombeck, a humorous newspaper columnist whom my mom and I read to each other often. She wrote in an easy conversational tone about everyday aspects of life. She made us chuckle with recognition and her little 5-inch writings were magneted up on many refrigerators of her day.

When I was in my late 30s, raising two boys and brand new at the busy job of being the senior pastor’s wife of a struggling church, I saw a tiny opportunity to fulfill this quiet dream of being a newspaper writer.

My husband and I were the leaders of a very small church in a small town with a small-town newspaper. Every other Wednesday the Dixon Tribune ran a page titled, RELIGION PAGE. Typically, the religion page published short articles from several churches in town. The church page articles always gave the latest sermon title, information about fundraisers, the days and hours of upcoming services, and the church address.

I looked at this page and had an idea that may get rejected, but I decided to go for it anyway. I wrote an article for our church that had nothing to do with the sermons or fundraisers. I just talked about my life with God, my kids, and our city. Of course, I ended each article with an invitation to our church with the necessary details included.

The first time I submitted an article, I was sure it would get rejected and I would be told that my style of writing was not right for the Religion Page. Keep in mind that this was around 1992. Email was around, but not widely used yet. I could not anonymously send my words to the local newspaper. I had to type my article out on a word processor, make a copy, and take it into the newspaper office by hand! By hand!

They printed it! I was thrilled to see my very own words in a real-life newspaper! After a few months of doing this twice a month, I noticed that the paper added my name in a by-line! This was not a paid writing job in any way at all. But I absolutely loved it! I tried my best to keep my writing fresh, a little bit funny, and always upbeat. I wanted readers to see the beautiful and joyful side of life with a loving God.

The other day I pulled out a little binder that I had created to hold my articles from those days. Sadly, I do not have all of them and there is no record of them anywhere as far as I know. But that’s okay because I am sure that every article was not a winner anyway. But I did save copies of my favorites in this binder. As I read them today, I am happy to say that most of them hold up and do not make me cringe too much. Phew! And guess what? I was told by a few people that my articles actually ended up under a magnet on their refrigerators!

If you’ve read this far, maybe you’d be interested in reading a few of my newspaper articles? If so, read on, I will give you one right now…It was June and our California city had endured a few days of extra strong winds. Everyone was talking about the wind everywhere I went.

An Unmovable Love

As I sit here writing, my house is loudly moaning. The backyard fence is moving around as if it wants to go for a walk and the trees in my yard are doing the wildest dance I have ever seen them do! Our patio swing, which is very heavy and awkward, has decided to lie down on its back. Thankfully the dog was not napping behind it.

I thought that the three-person swing was large and stable enough to stand against this wind. But something about the tilt of the canopy was just right to help this invisible power turn it over on its back with its legs in the air in a very undignified manner.

I am watching and hearing an unusual amount of activity for a normally quiet, peaceful house with swings that only move when you want them to, and a fence that is perfectly satisfied to stay in one place. Your house may be experiencing some extra movement today too.

The wind is finding out what is movable and what is not. Some things that are hit by the wind will stand and force the wind to go around them. Others will be carried away by the strength of the wind and you may have to go get your wandering garbage tote out of the neighbor’s driveway.

What is movable and what is not? Even as I am listening to the mighty wind hit my house, I am reminded that the love of my heavenly Father is totally unmovable.

During this month of celebrating Father’s Day, many different images of fathers come to our minds. Some of us may have negative or painful thoughts of our dads. Some of us have only good, nurturing feelings. The truth is that our earthly fathers have a love that is very possible to move and change.

But the love of our Father God is too strong, too deep, too much a part of Him to be changeable in any way. There is NOTHING that you can do to make Him love you more or love you less. His love is total and limitless.

When a mighty wind hits a mountain, the mountain does not move, the wind must go around and over it. The mountain is unmovable, like the love of God for you. As I listen to the wind outside explore what will and what will not move, I am secure in the steadfast, unchanging, unmovable love of my Father God.

We lived in the little house next to the church for a few years before buying our own home.

So I guess that my main writing theme has always been about LOVE! I remember realizing that most faith writers talked about what not to do, what to be afraid of, and who to stay away from. I did not, and do not see my faith in that light.

I have avoided going down “memory lane” for several reasons. But this year it feels like I am strong enough to look back and pull the good from the not-so-good. At 69 years old, I have more behind me than ahead of me. That is a very weird thing to wrap my head around, but God is walking me through the past in a gentle way that is helping me cherish the life I’ve lived so far. I hope you won’t mind if I share some bits every once in a while.

Love, Susie