When I graduated high school, my family threw a graduation ceremony at the little brick church I grew up attending. If you were homeschooled like I was, maybe you can visualize the scene. It was at that ceremony where my dad gave a tear-jerking speech that had everyone talking for weeks. I suppose I get my writing abilities from him 😉
At the end of his address, while we all wiped our running noses with tissues, he called me to the stage and told me I couldn’t graduate unless I correctly answered one final question… in front of everyone in attendance.
Talk about pressure. I stood with knees shaking beneath that stifling hot, black gown, praying he didn’t ask me anything to do with algebra.
“Abbey, what is the chief end of man?” he asked.
Que the exhale. That, I could answer without hesitation.
“Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever,” I replied.
Maybe you’re familiar with that catechism—it’s a series of biblical questions and answers used to teach children about God, His word, His plan, and our purpose since 1646. That’s the very first question and answer, and it’s one that my parents made sure to instill in me throughout my childhood. Even more than algebra.
Dear Glory Writer, you are first a son or daughter of the King. And you have been given a mission—to glorify and enjoy your Father and King.
Personally, I think it’s absolutely captivating to ponder this mission.
A King—a storyteller Himself—arranges the most powerful story ever imagined. One of great redemption, grace, and restoration, brought about by His own Son through a sacrificial death for those who never deserved redemption in the first place.
And we are grafted into that redemption, thousands of years later.
Those who were once against the King are made new, given the opportunity to enjoy the riches and blessings found through an intimate relationship with Him, and are instructed to lead lives that tell of His story, so that others might be drawn into that redemption as well.
You see, we are all storytellers.
But some of us are not only storytellers; some of us are lucky enough to also be writers.
Stories have power. They can evoke emotion, draw us to new conclusions about our worldview, prompt our minds to ponder, and so much more.
And we get to write them.
The power of stories combined with our mission to glorify God, is truly incredible.
The passion of our hearts can reflect the passion of His. Our prose can remind others of His voice in His Word. Our fictional battles can cause readers to draw courage for their own real ones. Our characters can display His great plan for mankind to bring Him glory.
And I don’t know about you, but as a writer, glorifying God through penning these stories, truly makes me enjoy Him more. It teaches me—the author—something valuable about my King, every single time I create a story for His glory.
So, Glory Writer, you have been given a mission and a gift by which to fulfill it. How will you use your writing to compel others and yourself, to glorify and enjoy your King?
It’s such a beautiful endeavor, is it not?
Glory Writers 