BEARING GIFTS FOR ONE ANOTHER

I am teaching a writing class right now. I have 8 amazing ladies in the class who write better than I do. Mostly I am a motivator for getting others to write their family stories. I am always quite blown away at how well everyone can write their own stories with just a little practice. The other discovery I have made is that when you share your stories with others they get inspired to try. My new Ward assigned me to visit Tresa. She is a young mother with three little boys. I liked her instantly. I took a story I had written to my first visit with her. She got so excited I couldn't believe it. "Oh please, she said, let me be in one of your writing classes." And she is there writing wonderful things. Her first story was "Wow!" She is one of my blogger friends. Her writing will inspire you too.

My favorite writing books are by Julia Cameron. She has a wonderful philosophy of the spiritual aspects of writing--something beyond ourself that helps us write what "wants to be written." I tell my classes: "You may not think you can write but the Holy Ghost knows how and He will help you--especially with your family stories." I have had it happen to me many times.

The following quote from Julia Cameron made me think of Tresa and I connecting. I said from the beginning it was no accident that I got assigned to be her visiting teacher. We had gifts for one another. Then I think about all the women that have taken my writing classes--I get more than I give.

"We intersect one another's lives for a purpose, and we bear gifts for one another. When we are hypercritical of ourselves, we are afraid to offer the gifts that we bear, gifts of acknowledgment and appreciation, gifts of acceptance and respect." (The Sound of Paper, Julia Cameron, p. 188)