Writing

I like to write a lot. I don't feel like being elegant or using fancy words right now.

My experience writing goes back to when I was a young boy. When my mom got a computer, I would go on it and write stories. I think I was 7 or 8 years old. When I was in second grade, I got in trouble for writing bad stories.
When I was 12 and 13, I would write short stories. I wrote hundreds of short stories during that time in my life. I was very depressed and hopeless about life, and it was a way for me to get out of all that. I remember writing stories that were dark and they described my feelings.
The amazing thing is how now that I look back at those stories I see the metaphorical significance. I didn't think about it or understand it at the time, but I see that they were exactly what I was feeling and dealing with. I won't go into them though because it's depressing and nobody wants to hear about that. I'll just say that writing really has a way of showing us what is really in our minds and even our hearts.

I took a long break from getting involved in writing. I went to work at a summer camp this summer. I started a journal. I didn't really know how it was going to work out for me. I started doing this because I decided that I wanted to get the most out of the experience and to grow as much as I could from the beginning. As it turns out my writing really did help me. It helped me to keep track of the different things that I was learning, and to remember the lessons that I've learned. Some things, I probably would not have learned if I was not writing. This is because when I write, it forces me to think over things which helps me see things that I would not have seen had I not thought critically about stuff.
For example, when I write my emotions and stuff, it helps me to understand myself better. Sometimes when I'm feeling bad and I don't know why, the only way to figure it out is to write it all down and analyze it all. Often times I find that what I thought was wrong. Like for instance I thought that my bad feelings had come from that someone else had wronged me, but that was not the case. I usually find out that my problem comes from my own flaws or messed up and limited perspective. That is why I like writing, it makes it easier for me to be honest with myself so I can get rid of bad stuff and become a better person.

I think that God gave us writing. I think that God had in mind for me to become a writer. A co-worker of mine that I worked most closely with this summer was a writer as well. I learned a lot from him and he really helped me to be more committed to writing and inspired me to do it more. I am pretty sure that God set that up. My pastor is also a writer, and I talk with him regularly to exchange ideas and talk about life and spiritual things. My interest in the history of the United States has also fed my desire to write. The founding fathers used writing as a tool to create this nation.

When God gave Moses the ten commandments, He actually wrote them down. You'd think that God wouldn't have any need for writing because everything He says is perfect the first time He says it. But He still wrote down the ten commandments. So there must be another reason to write things down instead of just saying them. Obviously one of those reasons is so other people don't forget exactly what you said. Also it is so that other people can know exactly what you said without actually being there when you said it.

I think that writing is just like speaking, but it allows for us to be a lot more involved in what we are saying. I definitely write way more than I talk or say things out loud. I like it that way, because I can be more clear and exact.

Francis Bacon said in his essay "Of Studies"
"Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man."

That's cool.
But now that I think of it... did Jesus ever write? We don't have anything he wrote. Maybe he only needed to read because there wasn't anything he needed that wasn't already written down? He was 100 percent centered on the word of God and he didn't need to write anything other than that. But maybe he just had really good memory. He did memorize scripture. He prayed so I'm sure he was sure of his thoughts after praying or reading scripture. That's a thought.