My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less

When everything in my life begins pointing in a specific direction, I try to listen. Okay, sometimes I have to be hit over the head more than once, but eventually I get it.

For the last few months, I've been feeling led to write a blog that has absolutely nothing to do with the art and business of writing, publishing or book promotion. Since those are all topics that make up most of my life, writing something completely different is a leap.

But in my other world, the world I've inhabited for a much longer time, I'm a follower of The Way, a believer in Jesus Christ and the wife of an Anglican priest. I believe in balance, and I think this may be God's way of helping me achieve a little more balance between my writerly life and my wifely life.

A little history: I was born into a believing family, Presbyterians by denomination and by nature. My parents didn't talk about faith often, but they were regular attenders of Sunday services, and my mom was active in the choir and in church governing, eventually. We went to Sunday School, and later to youth group.

But my grandmothers were the stronger force of faith in my world. One, on my mother's side, was Catholic, and the other was born Methodist, now Presbyterian. But for both these women, faith was more than Sunday sermons. It was alive, the dominant force in their lives. They taught me so much and even today, I'm still remembering and living their lessons and examples.

My Nana T introduced me to Catherine and Peter Marshall, and I devoured their books. Much of what I believe and live out today is a result of Catherine Marshall's works. So when it was time to name this little venture, I looked at Something More, one of Catherine's most influential books, and the title came to my mind: Nothing Less. Immediately the lines of a hymn rang in my ears: "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' love and righteousness." When we sang that hymn at church the very next week, I knew I was on the right track.

So this is going to be my musings, with some lessons on liturgical church built in as well, for reasons that will be explained along the way.

I don't know what 'this' will end up being, but I'm doing what I've been called to do. That's all that's asked of any of us.