Some Things vs. Other Things

This morning I'm thinking about a George MacDonald quote I jotted down here earlier. Part of it was, "no man can order his life for it comes flowing over him from behind." (If that's not precise - please accept my paraphrase.) Certainly that's true of inspiration.

It's interesting how I've returned from an amazing weekend at Resonate, and yet didn't have anything to write (at least not yet anyway). It was a ton of fun, it was meaningful on many levels, and I experienced the presence of God in a special way. Yet . . . no writing.

A lot of my thoughts and ideas come to me "flowing over from behind." Like when I'm getting ready to bike to work on a frosty morning, while I'm working, coming home at dusk on a mild day, or maybe while I'm driving. Or ___________. Little bits fall into place around each corner.

While big events can be amazing experiences . . . they can drown out the whispers of inspiration. But maybe down the line they will be after the decibel level has dropped. And sometimes experiences are either so big - or so important, that it's that much more difficult to condense, to make sense of, or to distill down into words worthy of them.

But it's interesting how some things grab you vs. other things.

Breaking the Silence with Writer's Block

Not much has been wafting from Life in Technismellour recently. There's lots to say - - but ever notice how much time living takes? It also takes a lot of time to untangle everything into intelligible strings. And I'm increasingly distressed at how long Detail Disoriented has retained top spot here. It deserves a follow up - but not here. Maybe soon.

In the movie I Am Sam, Sean Penn plays a mentally handicapped father who raises and eventually has to fight to retain custody of his daughter. His character is a huge Beatles fan, and at various points throughout the movie he interprets things and makes decisions by recalling (and applying) Beatles lyrics.

Allow me to pull a small Sam of my own by way of a U2 reference instead. At some point I read an interview or maybe it was in one of their books - - and this little story caused a little memory burn. Apparently in a high school English class, the teacher was talking about W.B. Yeats - specifically a point in his life where he had severe writer's block. The story goes: Edge raised his hand and asked, "Why didn't he just write about that?"

[I just applied that principle].