I sit here at my computer tonight filled with so much gratitude. Gratitude for my life, for a God that cared enough to find me, for amazing friends and family and for a gift I’ve been been so graciously given.

Writing is my life-blood and I am so grateful for the gift God has so graciously given to me.

I realize I should not say “life-blood” for Christ alone is my life-blood but truthfully, in the list of things that I value in my life, writing is right behind my relationship with God. With God being first of course, writing is my life-blood.

If I was stranded on a deserted island, I already know what I’d want with me…my Bible, my guitar, a pen, tons of paper so I could write…about life.

If I was given the choice between a million dollars and my ability to write, I’d leave behind the million because I could never trade my gift of writing for anything. I can live without a million dollars but I could not live without writing because writing defines me. Writing moves me. Writing helps me to explain and understand life better to myself.

Before I could ever actually write a word, I wanted to be a writer.

When I was just three, one day I had watched my mother make a cursive “e” and so I picked up a pen and proceeded to make cursive “e’s” all over the paper. I could feel the electricity in my hand just picking up that pen and I felt the thrill of writing even then, even before I could write any actual words.

When I was a kid in school, I wrote poems that didn’t make any sense until I learned that poems actually should make sense. I just loved to write, even before I had the tools or the vocabulary to actually write anything with meaning. From the time of early childhood, I knew someday I wanted to write a book.

I wrote poetry and short stories. I was always writing. Eventually I started writing songs, too. Writing has always been the center of my life. I’ve written sad stuff and I’ve written happy stuff, too. Some of my poetry was published many years ago in my high school’s poetry publication.

Writing has always been at the center of my life. Like a steady, refreshing drink of water, I need writing to keep myself nourished and alive. I need writing to refresh my soul. I need writing like a bird needs seed, a bee needs pollen, a horse needs barley. Without it, I’m not sure what I would become. I sure would miss it, that is for certain.

It makes me snot-cry and belly-laugh. It makes me think and veg. It makes me take-in and absorb. It makes me hold on tightly and let go with sweet abandon. It wakes me up at night and puts a smile on the face when I wake up each morning.

Writing to me is that cold glass of water on a hot day, the rain on my face in the midst of a storm, the wind whipping through my hair on a brisk day in March. Writing reminds me that I am alive and this life is something to be cherished and shared. Writing allows me to do both.

Whether I’m considered a good writer or not, well that’s not up to me to decide. I don’t allow space in my head to worry about it for the fact is, either way, I’d still write.. And as long as God allows, I will keep writing.

So if you ever wonder why I write, what inspires me to write and why I keep writing, the truth is writing is my life-blood and I cannot imagine a day of my life without it.

And I am so grateful for it.

Thank you, God, for such an amazing gift for I know that every good and perfect gift comes from You.

What gift have you been given that you are so grateful for?