Praise and Thanksgiving

I love awards season. Over the past few weeks, I've watched dozens of my fellow writers step to the podium (literally or in absentia)and take home Christies and reader's choices and . . . they all make me cheer. These are people I admire and adore, and I rejoice that they've won.

And praise God as well. When my friends ask if I'm jealous, I have to admit, yeah, a little. But the truth is that it's the kind of jealousy that makes me work harder, listen closer, and try to serve Him with a more devout heart. Unlike some writers' groups, Christian writers tend to support, encourage, and uplift each other - not snipe because "she won an award I deserved."

I think this is because we all walk the same path. We all want to serve Him. We have this glorious gift He's bequeathed to us - words and the ability to spin a good story - and when we do it with a Christian world view, it opens up our spirits and our hearts in a way little else does. Because, like everything else we do, it's for Him. Not for us.

My life gets a little out of order when I forget that...so here's to the awards that raise up a worldly reminder of a heavenly goal.