“I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say ‘he feels deeply, he feels tenderly.’”

“An artist needn’t be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.”

“The emotions are sometimes so strong that I work without knowing it. The strokes come like speech.”

Excerpt from Vincent’s letter to brother Theo:

“And God sees the trouble and the sorrow and He can help in spite of all. The faith in God is firm in me - it is no imagination, no idle faith - but it is so, it is true, there is a God Who is alive and He is with our parents and His eye is also upon us, and I am sure He plans our life and we do not quite belong to ourselves as it were - and this God is no other than Christ of Whom we read in our Bible and Whose word and history is also deep in our heart.”

Letter from Vincent to Theo, Amsterdan, May 30, 1877

“The sheer exhaustion she conveyed in the act of stirring her tea made it look like she was mixing cement.” ~ Martha Manning, psychotherapist (referring to her grandmother’s depression)

I don’t think about it much. Depression, that is. The moods come, and thankfully, they go. Except for the depression that hospitalized me. But that was years ago, long before I understood my own brain. For clinical depression there is now fairly good medication available. Other things help too, like understanding friends. Hopefully my experiences have wrought in me a deeper compassion for others. I hope it’s made a difference in my writing, too.

Last time I admitted depression, a friend said she just didn’t get it. I’m glad she’s never needed antidepressants. But something she said revealed a smidgeon of pride. “I just never give in to depression,” she said. “Guess I’ve never understood chronic victim mentality.” Ouch.

Well, much has been written on brain illness that would straighten out the least of this friend’s misconceptions, but some people would rather read the funnies. It’s useless to explain the function of neurons and neurotransmitters to people whose brain never falters. Note to self: Don’t look to misguided folks for understanding. It won’t happen.

Ironically, writing that ministers to me comes from those who have wrestled with darkness and come out on the other side. These writers speak to my heart. They’re compassionate, genuine, and not afraid to be transparent. They don’t shame people for the way they’re wired, nor for the way they’ve experienced life.

When I haven’t walked a mile in someone’s flip-flops, I really can’t afford to judge. So I treat people’s melancholia with care. When that black bile or brain-freeze descends on someone I know, I want to be the friend that God sends. I want to fan the flame of all His gifts, and love my friends in the most consistent ways I know how. It’s not enough to shrug and say, “I just don’t get it,” and walk away.

Melancholy souls were given a gift. Because of misunderstandings we’ve suffered, we recognize a timely word spoken in season. We cherish it. We cling to it. We never hesitate to offer a word or kindness to another soul in need, and trust God will most ably speak through us.

But a final thought lingers. If compassion is putting ourselves in someone else’s flip-flops long enough to feel their pain, surely melancholia taught us how.

“The human heart, at whatever age, opens only to the heart that opens in return.” ~ Maria Edgeworth

At first glance, this quote rang true. Then a Scripture came to mind: “We love because He first loved us.” ~ 1 John 4:19

Our hearts respond to Him, but even so, it’s grace that draws us heavenward. That’s what I love to write about.

What about you?

Solitude is not a bad thing. We writers are well familiar:

“Language…has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.” ~ Paul Tillich

“One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude.” ~ Carl Sandburg

“A creation of importance can only be produced when its author isolates himself, it is a child of solitude.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.” ~ Albert Einstein

Author Tricia Goyer shared two pearls of wisdom with her son, a recent homeschool graduate:

1. “Cory you’ve worked hard and you’ve excelled in your studies, but for your future my advice is not to work harder. Or even to work smarter. But to abide in Christ. Even machines can be trained to do work, but only men and women - guided by the Holy Spirit - can bear fruit that lasts for eternity.”

….and….

2. “If at first you don’t succeed, go back and do it like your mother taught you.”

“Tune our hearts to sing your grace.” ~ C.S. Lewis

Twice this week I’ve heard the expression, “So many books, so little time!” All the more reason to be selective, wouldn’t you say? Life is too short to fill our minds with junk.

“That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed in profit.”
~ Amos Bronson Alcott

“I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.” ~ E. M. Forster

“Choose an author as you choose a friend.”
~ Sir Christopher Wren

“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”
~ Henry David Thoreau

What books come to mind as you recall those that deeply impacted your life? Care to share?

“Cease to inquire whatever the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.” ~ Horace

“Be like the bird that, halting on its flight awhile on the boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings.” ~ Victor Hugo

“I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” ~ Martin Luther

There’s nothing like a good quote at the right time:

“Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it.” ~ Anne de Lenclos

“Kind words smooth all the paths of life and smiles makes burdens light, and uncomplaining friends can make a daytime out of night.” ~ Carrie Jacobs Bond

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems that you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” ~Harriet Beecher Stowe

“Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His providence.” ~ St. Augustine

“The greatest gift we can give one another is rapt attention to one another’s existence.” ~ Sue Atchley Ebaugh

As I perused my lovely Mother’s Day gifts this morning, each one reflected the specialness of the giver and warmed my heart. But more than gifts or praises, we mothers desire something more precious than store-bought sentiment - the gift of time. I love my children, but not for the gifts they bring. The gifts are a sweet representation of their love, but their presence in my life means more than I can describe.

On that thought, God nudges me. Is He trying to tell me something? After all, writers busy themselves with many a project, trying to honor Him with thoughtful, well-put words. In the process, we sometimes forget what He desires most. As much as words and stories bless His heart, He just wants us. If we but spend precious time with Him, the words will come.

A good week to concentrate on the Giver, and not so much the gifts. Let us honor God with all we write, but remember that good writing flows from a bountiful relationship with Him.

He is the Author and Perfector of our faith, amen?