Its the Lord's to Gain

“What are you to gain from being a contributor in this book?”

It was the first thing my aunt asked when I told her about Light at the Edge of Darkness. My aunt, who is a devout Christian with an extreme nature to pursuing the work of the Lord, asked a question that I didn’t expect to hear.

So what does any of us expect to gain from being in this anthology, or any book for that matter? For me to answer that question, I have to step back to when I began writing.

At the age of nineteen, as a freshman in college, I toyed with the idea of writing. Why not? An avid reader with a wild imagination, I thought I’d at least stand a chance. Little did I know of all the technicalities of the business. Nonetheless, an innate desire lay deep within me.

Sure, it all starts with a desire, but that desire is derived from a childhood imagination and a love for books. As a child growing up I had an older brother and a younger sister. While my brother spent a lot of time playing with cousins his age, my sister cried wolf every time I came around (not without due cause). So early on, I found myself in the backyard creating my own fantasies on a daily basis.

This childhood imagination led to my love of books. Particularly sci-fi, fantasy, and other Lost Genre type writings. I loved a story that would take me to another place in time, space, or another world altogether. It acted as a release from the problems of this life.

Little did I know that when I started writing that God would place his own stamp on it, with or without my consent. It became an undeniable characteristic to my writing. There was always an underlying message from my Christian background, something that pointed to Christ.

All of which was an oddity because I’d never picked up a Christian novel in all of my lifetime. Sure, I had read some non-fiction books here and there, but I’d never picked up a work of Christian fiction. Most all of my reading had come from secular novels.

Writing morphed from a desire into a passion. More so, a passion for Christ. I don’t want to write just anything. I want it to have meaning. I want the reader to come away feeling good about what they’ve just read. I, quickly, began to write for the Lord.

So what do I expect to gain from writing?

Nothing. Okay, so maybe it is nice to be published, and its great to get a writing credit. However, its all for the Lord to gain. Writing for Him is an honor. So if I don’t expect to gain anything then why try to be published? I want to be productive for Him. Stories give Him little glory sitting on my shelves. Getting them published means that maybe they can be a light to a dark world. Maybe, just maybe, someone will see the Light before the darkness consumes them.