Sticky Bits

Oh, hi! I'm back picking up these scraps of ideas I left lying around a few days ago. They're all things I've come across in the past year, and they've stuck with me.

1. John C. Wright is a sci-fi author and blogger. He's an atheist-turned-Christian and fiercely opinionated. Probably since I strive in my daily life to be balanced and understanding to all sides of a question, Wright's unabashed biased rants give me a guilty pleasure. Of course, I rarely finish reading an entire post -- he's also long-winded. (Note: I haven't actually read any of his books.) Anyway, I introduce him because it was on his blog that I read something along the lines of, "Most Christians aren't scared enough that they might be wrong."

It stuck with me because it's very true. Deep down, I'm convinced I know God's mind on nearly everything important. When someone disagrees with me, I don't have to extend grace -- except of the most patronizing brand -- because they're Wrong and I'm Right.

"Be scared that you might be wrong" is an excellent reminder to me that I don't possess the whole truth. I don't know the mind of God. And I may very well be wrong on issues I think are pretty clear-cut. "Be scared" reminds me that I need to give myself a generous margin for error -- and then fill up that margin with grace and humility toward my fellow human beings.

2. I read somewhere recently that Christians need to get over this idea that it's always wrong to be angry. Obviously it's damaging to let anger rule you. Obviously we're called to forgive others for personal offenses. But sometimes we need to be hot and ragingly furious. Abuse -- especially of children -- should make us mad. Human trafficking should make us mad. Malice and bullying should make us mad. Injustice against the poor and weak should raise the blood pressure and get us moving.

Not whether it's Xmas or Happy Holidays. Not the terrible service at Wal-Mart. Not the size of the large fries at McDonald's. Anger is good, but dangerous: let's channel it into causes that will make a real difference.

3. From my recent issue of "Writer's Digest": "First drafts are a failure. A writer is someone who doesn't let failure stop him." Or, in Anne Lamott's more concise words: "A first draft is full of s- ty writing." Why does this stick with me? Because I'm pushing myself to finish my writing projects no matter how, um, bad the writing is. So I type statements like this at the top of my stories to remind me to keep going. (I admit, I wrote "crappy writing" instead -- still not a word I use, so it had some of the same shock value every time I saw it on my personal work.)

Also in the realm of unprintable words: I recently came across the sentence, "I'm lazy as f-." It really bothered me. Not for the obvious reason, but because it MAKES NO SENSE. It's like saying, "I'm lazy as kick." or "I'm lazy as bounce." Besides, of all things f- is, "lazy" doesn't qualify. Somebody was just showing off.

4. A recent general email ended with the sentence, "Fell free to forward." I stared at it a long time, wondering what catchphrase or concept I was missing this time. Fell free? Fall forward? It sounded intriguing. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize it was just a typo.

-- SJ