In church today, the pastor spoke from 1 Timothy 6:6-10:

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

As I pondered that first sentence, “For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.” I thought about my dad.

By America’s standards, my dad died a poor man. He did have food and clothes and a roof over his head, but the rest of his worldly goods were nil. In fact, the only two things he had left besides his Bible, that he cared about in an earthly sense, were his watch and his wedding ring.

Dad used to enjoy getting a new (never expensive) watch with a few bells and whistles, the kind that allowed him to input the birth dates of his family members and perhaps had the added stopwatch feature. In his later years, he just liked one that told him the date and time. He also was never without his wedding ring, and stayed true to what it represented – his commitment to my mom whom he loved for over 70 years.

When he left this world for the next one, he left that watch and his wedding ring behind…and it occurred to me how very little he had and yet how much it represented. Dad is no longer constrained by time and his commitments are all fulfilled. He finished what God gave him to do, so these earthly symbols no longer mean what they once did.

There are two other things Dad left behind, things that carry no material value. His legacy of faith and a family that loved him. In this he found contentment.

Contentment is pretty tough to learn, something I think I’ve grasped only to lose it again. It is far too easy to get sucked into the desire for more, as if material things mattered. But things just exact something from us in their upkeep or they mold and shrivel and decay until they are worthless or wasted. I wonder how often I think I “need” something, when really it is just a strong “want.”

Things don’t make us rich. My dad could have counted his worldly possessions on two hands. But you can’t put a value on faith or love. Dad is far richer now than he has ever been and his treasure is safe from decay and from any who might take it from him.

Godliness with contentment is great gain – we can’t take it with us. Someday we, too, will get to leave behind time and commitments. Even if all we have left is a watch and a wedding ring.

Selah~

What does the Secretary of State’s office, HGTV website, and the mating cycles of sheep have in common?

Answer: I visited or researched each one today.

This morning was dreary, and we got our first light snowfall of the season. But since I am not a fan of dreary, I lit a fire in the fireplace, also lit my favorite candle, grabbed a piece of chocolate and a cup of tea and sat down to work on research and the first draft summary of Rachel’s story.

In the process, I keep coming back to chronological issues, which led me to wondering about the gestation (pregnancy) of sheep. (I realize my thought process probably makes no sense, but it does connect.) And someday the information will come in handy as both Jacob and Rachel were shepherds, though it might not help the chronology issue. Oh well…

In between work-related research, I’ve been doing some personal research on bathrooms. Ours our sorely outdated, and the shower has a leak somewhere. So hubby has been considering taking out the shower door. But if you’re going to take out the shower door, you might as well replace it. (It is over 30 years old.) And if you’re going to replace the shower door, the tile could use updating. And if you’re going to update the tile, the floor could also use redoing…

And if you give a mouse a cookie…you get the idea…

So I’ve been looking at ways to remodel a small bathroom and get the most use of our space for the lowest cost. Haven’t found the best “bathrooms on a budget” website, but I’m still looking.

The snow stopped and the sun came out (significantly brightening my mood!), and since we are expecting 4-6 inches sometime tomorrow, I figured getting my license renewed today wasn’t such a bad idea.

The Secretary of State’s office was crowded. I should have expected this. After not-so-neatly sliding the car into the parking spot (it was icy) and carefully tromping to the door, I opened the door to a roomful of people.

The security guard asked, “Are you here for license tabs?”

“No. I’m renewing my license.”

“Take a number.”

Number 55. They were still on number 27. This would be a good time to find a seat. So I walked around trying to find one that wasn’t scrunched too close to the people on either side. I found one near the back that suited and spent the time answering email on my phone and playing Bejeweled. (True confession: I am slightly addicted to this game.)

But alas, the time I expected to wait (an hour) moved much quicker (half an hour). Number 55 was called and I walked to the counter, handed over my paperwork, signed two documents, and had my picture taken. Please tell me I’m not the only woman who does her makeup and hair for a license photo!

That finally out of the way, I ran some errands (which included a stop for a Caramel Macchiato) and came home. Which brings me back to my research.

Oh the places I go…

Shalom~

I am sitting here today with the intention of working on my new story about Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. What I really want to do is start writing, to actually craft some fictional scenes. There is something uplifting about drawing on deep wells of creativity, of exercising that right brain to its fullest. But alas, I find myself instead flipping between Persian baby names and the calculator on my phone.

True confession: Math has never been one of my strong suits. I can do the basics, add, subtract, multiply, divide, and even understand basic algebra and geometry. But despite my many family members who specialize in mathematics, I did not inherit that gene. I understand it – to a point. I just don’t enjoy the subject.

But sometimes even writers need to do the math. Editors like it when story timelines make sense. Therefore, ages, times, and seasons need to line up in the right places. In biblical fiction, I have the added constraint of trying to figure out time based on ages given in Scripture.

This is not easy…

I have done the math umpteen times in calculating ages of the characters in my next story, and am ready to toss the whole thing into a hat and blindly pull out numbers! Not that I would. But still…it is hard to know the ages of only certain characters at particular times in their lives (like at marriage and death) but be completely in the dark about others.

For instance, we know how old Esau was when he took his first two wives, and we know how old Isaac was when he married Rebekah because the Bible tells us. But how old was Isaac when Jacob stole the blessing? It just says that he was old. We know how long Isaac lived. We know how long Jacob lived, and how many years he worked for Laban. We know how old Joseph was when he became ruler in Egypt. But we don’t know how old Rachel and Leah were when they met Jacob, who by all of my many calculations had to be around 70. (Don’t let that freak you out – Jacob lived to be 147.)

Still…how many sons did Laban have? Did he have other daughters? How many wives gave birth to those children? We don’t know. But Laban had to be pretty old when Jacob showed up on his doorstep. (If he was older than Rebekah and younger than Isaac, I would guess he was about 30, give or take, when Isaac and Rebekah married.) But that puts him at about 120 when he meets Jacob. Hmm…methinks these guys didn’t age like we do!

But really, for Jacob to wait 7 years to marry Rachel, she could not have been worried about her biological clock ticking, which meant she was a fair bit younger than he. How much? Ahh…therein lies the challenge. And doing the math makes that challenge even bigger! (I should have tossed my calculator and said forget it!)

But those who like to study the Bible’s little details would know. And I would know. And while we can find various reasons why thus and such wasn’t thus and so in history, I can’t ignore something that is so specifically spelled out in Scripture. There is a reason the ages are given, so I  just have to work with those ages.

For the part of me that doesn’t enjoy all of this figuring…I do get to make up ages for the other characters; and of Laban’s family there is little known, so the fictional mind can go straight to imagining without all of those annoying calculations!

Still…writers do need to do the math in any type of fiction. Timelines are important and understanding cultural differences are too. So I figure Jacob’s 70 is our 35, since he lived to be 147. He was just barely middle aged. And in that light, David and Bathsheba weren’t so different. David was probably near 50 when he spied Bathsheba from his roof. And she was likely in her 20s. An age difference we’re not quite used to in our culture.

Nonetheless, such arrangements and age differences did happen, and to those people at that time they weren’t so strange. Jacob’s and Rachel’s story is a love story like no other. I can’t wait to uncover their tale.

Selah~

If you have ever written a book, you know that the process takes planning. Characters don’t just appear on the page fully clothed in all of their descriptive finery. Plots don’t weave themselves through the fabric of the characters’ lives without some guidance from the novel’s creator. Even seat-of-the-pants writers (I’m one) would admit that they must have some direction in mind when they put their characters into their story.

Of course, dressing our characters, not only in physical costumes, but assigning their inner qualities and characteristics takes time…and work. Plotting…well, that comes later for me. I start a story with characters.

Which is where I’m at now. Sarai should be in bookstores by March 1 or earlier. Look for a blog tour (to be announced) online during the first or second week of March. (A blog tour is where book reviewers, who are also bloggers, agree to read a book they get free from the publisher, and then post a review of it on their blog during the time of the tour.)

Rebekah (working title) is on my editor’s desk awaiting a first read. So it’s time to dive into the pre-planning stages for Rachel’s story. This is the fun part.

As I’ve spoken of here in the past, I start a story with an Idea Board. I’m a visual learner, so I start with pictures. I think it would be fun to help a casting director pick the actors for work in film. I would enjoy trying to fit the right person with the part. In this case, I don’t usually have more to work with than pictures I find online – unless they happen to be movie actors, and I can watch them on film.

Today I cast my characters for Jacob, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, Zilpah, Laban, and Jacob’s twelve sons. Imagine how hard it can be to find a dozen Jewish male child actors? I opted for some older and younger, since the story will span so much time. Children don’t stay young forever!

I used to print each picture and use a glue stick to paste them to poster board. Now I use iPages and take a blank document and drop .jpgs onto the page. I size them and position them, then add text boxes to fill in their names. It can be a bit tedious, and I do wish there was a template with text ability already in place. Nothing in the template section quite fits the need. So I improvise. When it’s done, I print a copy for my office and put the other on on my desktop to look at as I write. It is amazing how much you can imagine from a single picture!

I intended to do more today, but the Idea Board took all day. I also snuck in a little research. Tomorrow, more research and much pondering. This is the time where I ask, “Who are these people? What were they like? What did they want?” And I pray and ask God for insight. What a devious bunch they all were!

Should make for a challenging story to write.

I appreciate your prayers as I ponder and work and pray as well. Every book needs more than my skills to accomplish. They also need a measure of God’s great grace.

Selah~

The new year means the start of a new book, so I’m beginning research for the third book in The Wives of the Patriarchs series. Sarai releases March 1 (less than two months!) and could be in stores a bit earlier (hoping!). So I’m also gearing up to do some promotion for this first book in a new series. Rebekah is on my editor’s desk awaiting it’s first read.

But while I wait for edits and promotional interviews, I’ve been spending time reading about Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. Who were they? What did they want most? What struggles did they face?

While I still have much to ponder, I’ve been thinking about Jacob, who is the husband of both of these matriarchs of Israel. If you read his story in Scripture, you find that he was not a man who knew peace, like his father, Isaac. From the womb he wrestled with his twin brother. And he spent the rest of his life wrestling for the birthright (that God promised to him through his mother before he was born), for the patriarchal blessing, for the woman he loved, with the wife he hated, over the rash actions of her sons, over the rape of his daughter, for his livelihood, for a heavenly blessing straight from God, and over the loss of his favorite wife and later his favorite son.

Deceit and treachery marked his every step, and whatever he gained was not without struggle. Some people just learn the hard way, and Jacob appears to be one of them. How interesting that the deceiver is also the one deceived. We reap what we sow.

Was Jacob destined to make the choices he made? What if he had not deceived his brother and later his father for the birthright and blessing? God had promised both to him before his birth. How different the story might have been if he had waited on God to work things out. As the saying goes, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Jacob’s whole life is one of the most tangled webs in Scripture.

If nothing else, Jacob is a lesson in how not to act. But then, not every deception was his. His Uncle Laban was a master at lying, and his daughters (Jacob’s two wives) probably had learned a thing or two from him.

After many years of earthly struggling, Jacob had an angelic visitor and wrestled with the man all night long. The result was a limp he never lost, and a lesson in surrender and trust that he sorely needed. In truth, those lessons in surrender and trust are ours as well. If we will heed them…

Selah~