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Where I share the naked reality of being a pastor's wife.

Karla Akins
Karla Akins
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My Life With Autism
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    Born Again American

    Archive

    Nov
    15th
    Sun
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    Words Are Important

    Here’s a post I wrote for my writing blog.  But it has to do with church drama, so I’m posting it here, too.

    envisionpublishing:

    All writers know this.  Every word counts.  Every word is chosen and carefully placed by the writer.  Some of  us love our words so much that cutting them is painful.  But today, I learned yet another lesson about words.

    I wrote the Christmas play this year for our church as I usually do.  I have a background in music theater and it’s just a natural thing for me to do and there is no one else to do it.  It saves the church money because they don’t have to buy scripts.  Besides all that, I enjoy doing it.

    I was confronted today by someone who let me know that someone else was upset about something I wrote.

    There is a line in the play that says, “A lot of people get confused at Christmas because when our nation was just beginning, people brought customs with them from other lands.  Santa was someone people made up to remember Saint Nicholas, a very kind man who used to leave money in the stockings of young girls who didn’t have enough money to get married.”

    One of the Moms was upset because she thought I was going to stand up and announce that Santa isn’t real.

    I have my own opinions about Santa.  I never told my children he was alive and real and bringing them gifts because I didn’t want to lie to my children.  I was afraid that if I told them there was a Santa, and they found out it wasn’t true, that they wouldn’t believe there really is a God and that Jesus came and died for them.  Right or wrong, that’s how what I’ve always believed.  (I realize that not all Christians agree with me about this.)

    However, this Mom who is upset is a new believer, and Santa is a huge part of their holiday.  Her son actually came up to me today while I was playing the offertory at church and said, “Are you going to read that part in the play that says Santa isn’t real?”

    Now, you and I both know, that wasn’t exactly what I wrote.  But it was what I meant.  The play is about different Christmas symbols and what they mean, where they came from, etc.  People are no longer ignorant.  Pagans laugh at Christians because we have adopted so many of their rituals as part of our holiday celebrations.  I want children and their parents to know the difference.  It’s part of my husband’s ministry — to teach TRUTH and stand by it.

    But I did understand this mother’s dilemma.  I do have Santa come in at the end of the play and bow at the manger.  I want that picture to be in the minds of the children in the play.  I want it to send a strong message that Christians celebrate Christmas for no other reason than Christ’s birth.  (Or, should I say, that’s what we are supposed to be doing.  We all know that things have gotten way off course where Christmas is concerned.)

    If I didn’t live in this culture, if I weren’t planted where I am planted, personally I would do away with Christmas trees and Santa and all of it.  But I am part of an American culture, and I have families who are baby Christians, and to “throw the baby Jesus out with the bathwater” so to speak, would be foolish.

    I need to be wise.  Sure, I felt attacked a little bit as a writer.  But, I took a look at that line and I changed the wording this way:  instead of saying, “Santa was somebody people made up to remember” I wrote, “Santa reminds us of.”

    It’s pretty much the same meaning, but gentler.  A child may not catch what it says.  But adults will get it. And when Santa bows at the manger, the kids will get it, too.

    As a writer, I need to be as “wise as a serpent but as harmless as a dove”  (Matt. 10:16).  However, I still need to write the truth, and I need to make sure I’m not being a sell-out.  Sure, it was painful to be confronted this way, but in another way I was rejoicing.  My words had made someone think!  My words had MEANING.

    Isn’t that why we write?  To change people’s lives in some way?  To make them feel things, think things, see things in ways they never had before?

    I am excited.  Maybe I have more drama ahead in regard to this play because it challenges some of our customs.  But that will be okay with me because I am learning.  I am a work in progress.  And I am glad to learn to make every word count.  Words are important.

    What do you think?  Are you willing to change your words to make them more palatable?  Or do you think that’s being a sell-out?


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    karlaakins:

Tomorrow I have to get up early early to head to leadership training for Celebrate Recovery for our church.  My husband, the pastor, is going, too, so hopefully it will be a fun “something different” get away for us.  Some of the most fun people in the world to hang out with are going, too.
I love this program.  It works.  If you know anyone who struggles with an addiction or hangup of any kind, and you hear of a Celebrate Recovery program where they live, encourage them to go.
It will change their life.
via danielj09.files.wordpress.com

    karlaakins:

    Tomorrow I have to get up early early to head to leadership training for Celebrate Recovery for our church.  My husband, the pastor, is going, too, so hopefully it will be a fun “something different” get away for us.  Some of the most fun people in the world to hang out with are going, too.

    I love this program.  It works.  If you know anyone who struggles with an addiction or hangup of any kind, and you hear of a Celebrate Recovery program where they live, encourage them to go.

    It will change their life.

    via danielj09.files.wordpress.com

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    karlaakins:

    prayfordaisy:

    Daisy had a pretty hard time at Chemo yesterday, fear still being a big factor.
    But radiation is going well and we are half way through (we finish next Friday), and are not seeing too many side effects yet, but the doctor says they are coming.

    Daisy is looking forward to having the weekend off from both treatments.

    Today, Daisy got her hair cut for the first time ever!! She did it in anticipation of it falling out and one of her best friends (Selah Balli) did it with her. A sweet girl in our fellowship offered to do it and brought Barbi dolls for each of them to cut the hair off as well. The Barbi Doll’s hair looked just like Daisy and Selah’s, one blonde and one brunette.

    Daisy and Selah are dedicating the beautiful hair they cut off to Pantene Beautiful Lengths which makes wigs for women with cancer.

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    They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
    — Acts 2:42-45 (via loveispatient)
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    Expectations destroy our peace of mind. They are future disappointments, planned out in advance. ~Elizabeth George
    — (via iwannotowidigdo) (via karlaakins)
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