Jonathan Heppner

I realised that this page is about writing, as well as faith and work, so here is an incredibly articulate piece of writing about writing and faith from one of my favourite bloggers (I wish I could write like this!):

Jonathan Heppner
#excusemymuse very few disciplines expose the complexity of fear like writing. prose. poetry. verse. rhythm. rhyme. flow. all chosen to be the costume that insight wears and that profundity seems to require. i have been a life long reader, and have dabbled with the craft of writing. i notice that the more i pay attention, the more attuned i am to the smell of fear, of insecurity and the longing for approval that hides beneath the surface of so many pages. layered under the writers’ choices, you can feel it. long words instead of short ones, as though the short were not just as powerful; the long as a pretentious choice of clothes to hide what is subconsciously seen as unseemly, a hidden attempt to keep people at a distance. words chosen as hidden protectors, something we can hide behind, to pretend we are giving and at the same to thwart queries in a frightful sneer of ‘you wouldn’t understand’. we do it to assuage the very real haunt of doubt. these bastions allow us to hide…from what we can’t control: the potential of criticism, judgment, and rejection. the tragedy is that we cannot truly write from this place of fear. we have to write from the place of love. love? yes. because love is where truth is born. and to give truth language, we have to fight for her. we contend for her by writing that which is simple. that which is honest. and that which calls us to experience beauty. truth should only be given in love…and this love demands courage. we hold out our hand and say, ‘these words…they come from my soul. can you hear them? i want you to understand, have i wrapped them in the language of your heart?’ it is the willing gift of soul that makes the written word powerful, because it is brave.#saskatchewanwanderings
(ps. Apologies to my proofing friends... just imagine ee cummings)