The Stories must be told

The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ has been called "The Greatest Story ever told" and one of the movies about the life of Jesus is Entitled as such. There is power in the narrative. Whether it is in literature, the stage, film or audio drama, music all of these mediums are making an impact upon our lives.
We are drawn to the stories being told and we are drawn in by characters and their various relationships, by the events taking place, by the story line and of course by the message being delivered.

Stories - there are stories that are fiction, purely created by the author and their are stories that are real life stories, biographical, autobiographical, historical events, places, inventions etc. Regardless of fact or fiction, each kind has the power to make us think, inform us, move us and even the power to change us and the course of our lives. The writer of Proverbs says that words have the power of life and death and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Funny, I am writing a blog post and this is how I am procrastinating in writing my NanoWrimo novel. It is motivating me to get writing because it is November 4, 2012 and I am publicly stating that I am participating in the challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I have written every day but I am slow out of the gate, lagging behind my fellow writers.  

We need stories, we desire to be a part of our own story and to be intentional in playing our part.  In googling "the power of story" the search yielded 4,220,000,000 findings. You read that right: 10 digits in the billions.  Here are some quotes from my search:

"Gripping tales teach us, persuade us, and define us." from Psychology Today

"We put away our grammar books and Mr. Hatch said, Conley, today we are writing stories...you can write anything you want."   Susan Conley from TED Talks 

"If you don’t believe in the power of story watch an audience at church the moment the preacher says “Let me illustrate this point with a little story.” Folks who were restless stop fidgeting and listen. Even kids suddenly tune in. An audience that may have drifted away suddenly comes right back to the speaker and sits attentively at his feet. The entire audience is galvanized by even a simple story."  
from Mark Roberts at Westside Church of Christ Irving, Texas

"A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho" from Luke's Gospel where Jesus tells the story that answers the question "Who is my neighbor?" 

“Child,' said the Lion, 'I am telling you your story, not hers. No one is told any story but their own.” 
― C.S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy

During my thinking and listening time, this is what came to my mind:

"And God said....." Genesis 1  "the Word was with God and the Word was God...." John 1  "Write what you see in a book...." from the Holy Bible, the very Word of God from The Greatest Story Ever Told

God is Spirit. He is Greater than ALL. God is the Truth. God chose to reveal His Son through the written and spoken Word of His Prophets, sent Him to walk among us fully God and fully man, a mystery for sure and then continued to have His children record this Life in the Gospels, had Paul write letters to the Churches, the saints, to close brothers and finally God revealed to John, the Beloved Jesus returning in power and the end and that there will be a new heaven, a new earth and a new city.  The story of stories is to go forth and be proclaimed throughout the world. The story has been preserved through the millenniums for us.

No matter where we are in life and in the world we want to hear the stories that not only inspire and move us, but also that disrupt and challenge us. We want to stay connected - this is precisely why the stories must be told. And with that perhaps I will get going with my nano novel and see where my characters take me today.   

Temporary Housing

We have finally gotten to this place, our new home (....which we have said more times than we want to count in the last 4 years) and Dan says, "it still feels like this is someone else house." And I said, "that is because it is, we are just the managers.  This house is the Lord's every room under this roof." Today I would add every blade of grass in the yard, the couple of places where the hardwood is original and it gives a little squeak, kind of like my knees that I find myself more today than when I first believed and it is not just from painting the baseboards ;-), the street we live on and the plot of land that straddles the town line, He is Sovereign. As some of you know, it has been some time since we have had a place of permanency and the process of waiting has brought me to the conclusion, it is ALL temporary housing. Sure houses tend to last longer than people, none of us gets out of here alive unless you are the next Enoch or Elijah.
I have a paint brush with my name on it but I just wanted to keep this blog going.....It was a matter of being inspired by one of my favorite writers as a high schooler, Ray Bradbury. (I listened to a lecture he gave at Point Loma Nazerene University) There is just so much to say about temporary housing, eternal perspectives, home, hospitality, the arts, the power of the written word fiction and non-fiction alike, beauty in the cracks, the running of paint that you missed now "permanently" running down the wall unless you sand, prime and paint all over again, motorcycle alley, what it means "to do it right," imperfections in a "perfect place" (which does not exist in this world, by the way), etc. Yes, this is my list of just some things to write about.........

NanoWrimo is here. Our family has been participating in NanoWrimo (National Novel Writing Month = November) since 2005 when we lived in Quechee, VT. For more info go here. So, we are 8 hours in and I have not written a word. Not to worry, I will begin later. At least I know what I am writing about this year.

The story begins in the mid 1990's families across the country have taken on the responsibility and challenge of educating their own at home. (a topic that I am intimately familiar with) The focus we be upon this family that shelters their children into late adolescence which cripples them in their early adulthood. My story can be summarized by a recent tweet of mine where I quoted my husband, "Some homeschooling parents interpret the verse to say, "You are to be as wise as serpents and as ignore as ostriches." This is a harsh reality in the homeschooling community. Parents hearts have been broken. Young lives shattered.

Shout outs to Dan, Grace, Katie and Michael! My wonderful family. God has blessed me so much. I am grateful for each and everyone of you! All NanoWrimo winners and beautiful loving people. I love you guys!

Still waiting

I'm not a full fledged blogger and I thought that by now, I would just do what I love to do and that is write. I hold back. I get discouraged. I read other people's blogs. At this point I am simply a blog follower. There are 56 drafts sitting in my "edit posts" tab. They are not completed posts, just some ideas "jotted down," some are simply a sentence or two, others a paragraph and I am pretty sure the longest post I have ever written is in there and I just haven't posted it yet.

I just finished watching the last videos of A Year of Question Video project and it got me to thinking, why did I start my blog? It all started while we were moving 3 times a year in 2004 (we began traveling in 2003). It was a great way to journal my way through our adventures. The adventures have not stopped, our journey through life continues and at this point it feels like we are doing it at a neck breaking pace and I am taking it stride by stride, so it is me, I have not allowed myself to reflect with my writing publicly. [There it is - the truth.] What I am going through is deeply personal, painful and exhilarating all at the same time. So when I do write, it is by hand in one of my paper journals with a pen containing black ink.

Michael and I just returned from a road trip. If memory serves me correctly it is the first big road trip that I had just with Michael, now treasured memories for me and hopefully for him too. We put about 2500 miles on my vehicle and I had the pleasure of staying with my daughter Grace in her dorm room. It was great to see our Gracie and be with her. We made an adventure out of it seeing several but not all of the friends that I wanted to see. Life is good and God is faithful.

Still dreaming about becoming a daily blogger and more.

Dear Readers,

The last time that I posted this a couple of you let me know that there was apparently no links to my new blog, which is not replacing this one. I discovered that they were there just hidden. I have embolden the links: one to Nanowrimo, and two to my new blog. Just put your cursor over the words that are in bold and you will get there.

I am about to embark on something that I have been doing for some time but don't do it as often as I would like: Writing. As some of you may recall, we (the Mullaney Pilgrims) have participated in Nanowrimo since 2005. I have created another blog with a taste of my stories. So, for all of you that stop by here regularly, I want to ask you a favor and visit my new blog and give me your feedback. I am posting chapter 1 from my first Nanowrimo novel. It is unedited.

Thank you,

Catherine Mullaney

Cooking up some food for thought at Mac's Grille

New BLOG
My new blog for my fiction writing is up, bare bones and I will add meat and muscles as I go along. One of my faithful readers said to me, I am still waiting. So here it is in it nakedness.
By any other name
Thanks for reading.

Maintaining the Identity of Caitriona
Upon further thought, I will create a new blog to accommodate my fictional musings and maintain the pilgrim journey here at Caitriona. I realize that I didn't really give any warning to my readers. We have moved into the house pictured here in Sutton, MA, a little town just outside of Worcester. Acquiring a third Massachusetts address may seem like we are circling the wagon and that is exactly what it feels like. At this point we are looking to resettle here in the Commonwealth, the home of our fathers.
Look for a link in the future for my fictional writing.