Georgian wine and supra

I managed to write 2 + 1/2 pages tonight on the topic of Georgia, specifically a supra, which was fun, but somewhat hard to explain. Thank God for Youtube!!

I found a very interesting video today showing how Georgians make wine and that many Georgians have their own grapevines and Kvevri, or underground clay jars, which they use to make their own wine. I'm curious about the taste of Georgian wine. I don't really care for wine bought in America, probably because it's cheap and also because it's probably crap compared to the supposed "really good stuff" in other countries. The fact that Georgian wine can be an amber color has me intrigued. Look for that in my story. ; )

Drawing From Reality

Sometimes expressing myself is frustrating. Nothing seems adequate for capturing the images that live inside me. It's like a drawing of a landscape: it isn't close enough to the actual landscape to really do it justice. As my skills improve, the drawing becomes more and more accurate, but it will still never reach a full likeness. C.S. Lewis said: "How far the life of the risen man will be sensory, we do not know. But I surmise that it will differ from the sensory life we know here, not as emptiness differs from water or water from wine but as a flower differs from a bulb or a cathedral from an architect's drawing." I get discouraged because I want to show the cathedral and I'm forced to be satisfied with an architect's drawing. I guess that is just the reality we live in, though I'm still pretty young. Maybe someday I will be able to use film and music to express myself. But no matter the medium, the point is we can never really achieve the one thing that all artists strive for: for that picture to come alive outside of ourselves in exactly the way that we intended. In this world it can't be done.

Here's more C.S. Lewis =)

"For though we shall be 'as the angels' and made 'like unto' our Master, I think this means 'like with the likeness proper to men': as different instruments that play the same air but each in its own fashion. How far the life of the risen man will be sensory, we do not know. But I surmise that it will differ from the sensory life we know here, not as emptiness differs from water or water from wine but as a flower differs from a bulb or a cathedral from an architect's drawing."

"Let us picture a woman thrown into a dungeon. There she bears and rears a son. He grows up seeing nothing but the dungeon...This unfortunate woman was an artist...With her pencil she attempts to show him what fields, rivers, mountains, cities and waves on a beach are like. He is a dutiful boy and he does his best to believe her when she tells him that that outer world is far more interesting and glorious than anything in the dungeon...one day, he says something that gives his mother pause. Finally it dawns on her that he has, all these years, lived under a misconception. 'But,' she gasps, 'You didn't think the real world was full of lines drawn in lead pencil?' 'What?' says the boy. 'No pencil marks there?' And instantly his whole notion of the outer world becomes a blank. For the lines, by which alone he has imagined it, have now been denied of it. He has no idea of that which will exclude and dispense with the lines, that of which the lines were merely a transposition -- ...the coloured three-dimensional realities which are not enclosed in lines but define their own shapes [in a way] no drawing could ever achieve. The child will get the idea that the real world is somehow less visible than his mother's pictures. In reality it lacks lines because it is incomparably more visible.

So with us. ... Our natural experiences...are only like the drawing....if they vanish in the risen life, they will vanish only as pencil lines vanish from the real landscape; not as a candle flame that is put out but as a candle flame which becomes invisible because someone has pulled up the blind, thrown open the shutters, and let in the blaze of the risen sun." -- C.S. Lewis

Lean not on your own understanding

I think God is teaching me how to submit my will to His. This desire to see His purposes succeed in place of mine permeates my life and prayers. His way is so much better than mine. There is comfort is letting Him take care of it. When I'm working on my story, I ask Him to impart His words so that He will be glorified. He knows I care nothing for the ambitions of this world; I just wish to hear "Well done, good and faithful servant." I've prayed over and over again that He would lead me and this seems to be where He is taking me. He has placed me in a unique position that few others could enjoy, let alone thrive in. Though I know I am unqualified, He can do great things through me. I've never been much of a leader. I like having someone to follow. I just want to know where to go and what to do. It doesn't mean it will be easy, but it's a whole lot easier than trying to figure it out on my own.

In other news, I'm just about finished with this book I've been studying about Bible prophecy in preparation for the second story. I haven't really started working on that story yet, but some of the content will have to be decided now to tie the first and second books together. I didn't expect this prophecy book to become a source of comfort, but it really has. We need to understand what is happening in the world and how it fits in with God's plan for humanity. I have a lot more studying to do on the subject, but that's okay because I really enjoy learning.

A Thousand Years

I have two things to tell today. The first is that I've been reading this book about Astronaut Rick Husband who died on the Columbia when it was returning to earth. In the book it said that he decided to let God lead his life and he would only pursue being an astronaut if it was what God wanted. Well I got to thinking about my life, and how the world tells me I have to be this and that and do this and that to be accepted, even loved. I was really struggling with doubts that this story was really what God wanted me to focus on right now. For days, maybe weeks, I've been asking Him to show me where He wants me to go and everything comes back to the story or my songwriting. It's hard for even me to believe it, but this must be what He wants. It's so easy to say that God wouldn't want someone to sit at home writing a story that will never be published officially. It seems so contradictory to all the voices around me that yell "Get a job!" or "Go to school!", usually both. Then I read the devotion for today from "Jesus Calling": "Stop judging and evaluating yourself, for this is not your role. Above all, stop comparing yourself with other people. This produces feelings of pride or inferiority; sometimes, a mixture of both. I lead each of My children along a path that is uniquely tailor-made for him or her. Comparing is not only wrong; it is also meaningless. Don't look for affirmation in the wrong places: your own evaluations, or those of other people. The only source of real affirmation is My unconditional Love..." I guess the point that I am making is that God knows better than anyone what He can do with my life and many times where He leads is the exact opposite of where everyone else wants you to go. That is part of the challenge of following Him. We already know He thinks opposite to us, so why is it so shocking that He is leading me in the opposite direction from where everyone else is telling me to go?

The second thing I want to share is how God is secretly writing this story. I am the conduit through which His beauty can flow. On the way home from our church's Ash Wednesday service I heard this song on the radio called "A Thousand Years". It made me think of Jesus and how He loved us long before we existed. It's been in my heart ever since then and just this morning I sat back with a cup of tea and listened to it. I had just prayed that God would impart His words into my story because I knew He could write something much more beautiful than I could. As I listened to the song a scene for the story came into my mind that was so beautiful and perfect and I wished that I was a filmmaker so I could share this visually with everyone. I won't go into detail, but let's just say I believe He answered my prayer. =)

Majoris Panis en de Arsus

This was such a great idea I had, but now it requires me to actually know stuff about stuff. Um...that may be a problem. Fortunately, we live in the Age of Information! With Wikipedia at hand and anything I want to know accessible via Google, I shouldn't have a problem putting this into motion. I just have to do the mental grunt work.

Um

Yesterday I had a great idea for how to improve my story goal. It doesn't really change it, it just makes it a bit more specific and should help me to write a more engaging plot. Yay!

Summary

I found a guide to help me form a plot outline and make a summary so things are definitely looking up now! I still have tons of brainstorming to do, but one thing at a time. I had a great idea for how to choose a character name for Part 2 in the middle of the night last night so I'm excited about that. By the way, what is it with Part 2 butting in all the time?!