Harper Lee and Me

Who wouldn’t want a year of writing?  Nothing but writing.  Quit your day job and just write.  For many of us, quitting our day job and writing full time is just a dream, but for Harper Lee, it became a reality.  In December of 1956, Harper Lee’s friends gave her a year of writing as a Christmas gift, and “Stunned by the day’s miracle”, she realized her friends had given her , “A full, fair chance for a new life.” (Harper Lee, “A Christmas to Me,” McCall’s, December 1961)  Harper, who had dropped out of law school and taken a job at an airline, was finally free to pursue her passion of writing, and thus we have the timeless classic To Kill a Mockingbird.

At this moment, a “full, fair chance for a new life” sounds pretty good.   But here is my reality- I am a mom.  This changes everything.  I am also a wife.  So even if my friends rallied around me, I would not truly be able to give myself completely to my writing.

Where does this leave me?  It leaves me fighting for time to write.  It leaves me frustrated and exhausted, but it leaves me desperate for God.  I have to look to Him for help, for comfort, and for strength.  Whatever I manage to accomplish creatively, I know it is because of His Spirit within me and not of myself.

So, if you find yourself wanting a new life, remember, you have just the life that God wants you to have, and through your struggles, you’ll find that Jesus is creating in you what you didn’t even know you lacked- the need for Him.