By Diane A. McNeil
Recently, I signed up
for classes on grant writing because of my affiliation with a local
foundation. The only reason I agreed to do so was because if you attended
all weekly sessions, you received individualized assistance in preparing your grant.
There was no intent on
my part to participate. I selfishly only wanted the freebies that went with
attendance. It was a rather large group, so there was lots of space in
which to hide as a wall flower, or so I thought. I did take notice,
though, that the two moderators were older, no-nonsense, whip-wielding women
who could teach military generals a thing or two.
One of our first
assignments was to read our mission statement out loud, whether or not we felt
like it. After all 40 were read, then began the unexpected, intensely
painful chipping away of everything that was not essential to “the” mission, on
which we had spent hours perfecting.
The moderators told us
to get rid of any “ands” in our statement. But, but, but, ours was a good
“and”; we needed it. They said, you are either one thing or another, you
can’t be both. A real mission statement needs no and. We had to
decide on which side of that “and” we really belonged. Then, we were told
that a good mission statement should only contain about ten words – ours was
38! After much grinding of teeth and even tears (really), we slashed ours
down to 11 words – we weren’t budging on that last one.
What we discovered was
we had moved so far from our original mission, the calling we knew was from
God. We, ourselves, were no longer sure who we were. We had ceased
to be effective.
Immediately, I
translated this to my writing. What was my mission 20 years ago when I
received that unmistakable call from God? Is my mission something
entirely different today? When I write, do even I recognize the
author? Worse yet, does God recognize the author?
I challenge you to run
away, spend face-to-face time with God in prayer and write your own mission
statement. Has it changed as you have progressed as a writer?
Truthfully, are you still that child-like, trusting,
tablet-and-pencil-in-hand-child you once were? Or, are you sophisticated
and pursuing the big names and the key spots? Maybe all is well, but it
still can’t hurt. Take on another writing assignment – your mission
statement. Be honest enough to see who God sees behind that
computer. Remember, it can be no more than 10 words (okay, maybe 1 or 2
more), and you can have no ands. Tears are okay – better to shed them
here on earth than when standing before HIM.
_______________________________________________________________________
Diane
A. McNeil was born and raised in a small, Delta town in Mississippi, the
daughter of average, hard-working, common people. McNeil never aspired to write
until one Sunday morning in 1995 when the Lord “undeniably” spoke to her about
Ruth. McNeil responded, “I don’t
understand, but I am not giving up until I do.” Ten years later McNeil published
her first book, Ruth 3,000 Years of Sleeping Prophecy Awakened, a 10-year journey
that travelled through Jewish homes, Hebrew classes, Synagogues, Jewish
weddings, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, funerals, circumcision ceremonies and
much more, all of which unfurled the prophetic, ancient megilot (scroll) of
Ruth. McNeil said, “I had to live it.” In
2007, McNeil published the companion workbook by the same title. In 2011,
McNeil published Jewish Game Changers which details her many Jewish “ah-ha”
moments. McNeil is currently President of Unknown Child Foundation, Inc.,
organized to educate about the 1.5 million children who perished in the
Holocaust, and created for the purpose of constructing a Holocaust Memorial Park
to be located on the old Elvis Presley horse ranch in Horn Lake, MS. Social Media Links: dianemcneil@hotmail.com
www.ruth3000.com
www.unknownchild.org https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Diane+A.+McNeil
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