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Non-fiction / Not A Waste
NOT A WASTE
After witnessing Fantasia Barrino’s election to American Idol and hearing her sing, “I Believe”, I must admit, I became motivated to follow my own dreams. In the song she says, “I’ve waited for this moment all my life.” How true. Oftentimes, we wait all our lives for moments like these, but they never arrive. Why? There are several reasons: because, like me, we fail to work hard to get what we want or because we fail to visualize what we want so we don’t have a goal for which to strive.
Fantasia knew she wanted to be a singer and an entertainer. It was manifested every time she performed. In an interview, she said, “I always had a dream, always wanted to sing, and it seemed I couldn’t get my foot in the door.” She pursued that dream despite people telling her it couldn’t be done and she couldn’t succeed because she is a single parent. Yet, look at her now, American Idol! That’s a slap in the face to all those critics. She’ll be living proof that success is the best revenge.
She inspires me, even through her interviews. She said, “I been through some things but I worked hard to get to where I’m at.” Haven’t we all been through some things? Yet, she used them to inspire herself to better things, not as an excuse to do nothing or settle for less. She did it with hard work and determination. It doesn’t hurt to have an inspiration of your own.
Fantasia is the mother of Zion, her two-year old daughter. In an interview with TV Guide Online, she told her story. She relates that her grandmother, who owns a daycare, would give her money purchase things for Zion. At other times, she would have to borrow money to get things. “I don’t have to do that anymore. Now, I’m able to take care of my own child.” That was her motivation and inspiration. She used the gifts and talents that God gave her to better her life.
Are you? Am I? I supposed this all clicks for me because I just finished a study on the Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren. In it, he tells us that: 1) It is not about us; it is about God. 2) God created us for a purpose and a mission. 3) God gave us the gift of life; what we do with it is our gift to him. There are other nuggets in there, but those are the ones that spoke to me. God created us, gifted us, and enabled us to do His will. Yet, many people will waste their lives either searching and never finding or trying to accomplish their own goals and not God’s.
So the question is: what do we need to do now? First, we must decide to pursue our purpose. Yes, I said our purpose, not our goals, nor our plans, nor our ambitions, but our purpose. Our purpose is God’s purpose for us. We must decide to pursue it. It will never come to you; you must work to achieve, to reach it. Paul says, “I do not consider myself as having apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and looking to those things which are ahead, I press on toward the mark of the high call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:13-14).” This is true of all of us. We must press toward the goal. How can Jesus say to us ‘Well done good and faithful Servant,’ but we haven’t done anything because the purpose is going to come to us?
DECIDE TO SUCCEED
Before we can strive to achieve God’s plan for us, first we have to decide to make the pursuit. Before anything can be done, a decision must be made. A decision is not a nonchalant ascent to do something, but it is a state of mind to achieve something. It is the same with those battling an addiction. They may mentally ascent to wanting to break a habit/addiction, but until they decide to do so, nothing will ever change. To decide is to fix your mind on a certain outcome and taking steps to achieve that outcome despite the costs and despite the obstacles that may present themselves.
The dictionary defines to decide as “to make up one’s mind.” The root is from the Latin word which means to cut off. When you decide to do something, you cut off all other avenues of escape or retreat. When a person decided to follow Christ, they chose to do so in the face of alienation, persecution or death. When a person decides to do better in life, they choose to do whatever it takes: work another job, take night classes, work late, and forsake entertainment opportunities for study or some other thing that will further them on toward their goal. Likewise, when we decide we will succeed, we will have made the choice to do whatever it takes to accomplish that goal: overcome comfort zones, network, brainstorm, plan, evaluate, plan again, sleep less, search for opportunities, try, fail, and try again until we reach the expected end. They don’t settle for less than what they visualize.
Jesus said, “If any man desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me (Matt. 16:24).” In this passage He was saying if you want to be my disciple, then you must make up your mind to forsake your ambitions and goals, risk humiliation and persecution, and come after Him (pattern your life on His life).
SEEK GOD
The first step in making a difference in this world and in your life is to make a decision to do so. Once you make the decision to do so, the next thing to do is to seek God. You cannot hope to fulfill your purpose, or even find your purpose, apart from God. It was He who created you. It was He who created your purpose. It is He to whom you must give an account. It is like employment. When you start a job, you ask the employer what he/she wants you to do because they are the one who created the position. They are the ones who know what needs to be done and they are the ones to whom you must report.
Seeking God involves several things. First, it involves prayer. To many people, prayer is a scary word. To others, it is a “churchy” word. Simply put, prayer is nothing more than a conversation with God. It is a fancy word that means to talk to God. It does not have to be in any special language or dressed up in diplomatic terms. God already knows your heart. Your words to Him should reflect your heart. You cannot say or “reveal” anything to God that He does not already know. Prayer involves more than just you talking to God. It is also listening with your heart to what He has to say to you. Prayer is a conversation, not a monologue.
Seeking God also involves studying His Word. God reveals a lot about Himself and what He expects from us in His Word. Some have described the Bible as God’s love letter to man because in it He reveals His love for man and man’s purpose in life. Through some of the testimonies and examples given in the Bible, perhaps you might find direction for your life. If not, then perhaps the wisdom of Proverbs or Ecclesiastes will provide guidance. There are not too many areas that the Bible does not address in either a specific sense or a broad one. Ask a trusted Christian friend or a minister what passages they recommend. You might also read Proverbs 3, Book of Ecclesiastes, and the Epistles (Letters) of Paul to the Romans, Colossians, and the Ephesians.
Seeking God involves meditation. Meditation is simply concentration on God’s Word, turning over in your mind, and asking the Holy Spirit to explain to you what it means. It is examining in your mind each word in the passage. It is understanding how this verse(s) connects to other verses and to the message of the Bible as a whole. David said, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor sit in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night (Psalms 1:1-2).”
TAKE ACTION
This is the most important step. It is the most important because without taking action, all the planning, praying, and meditating will have been in vain. We must take action. We act upon whatever we feel God is leading us to do. If it is to start a business, then we take action. Decide what type of business to open. Next, do research on the business, talk to those who are already in the field, conduct some market analysis, write a business plan, gather investors (if necessary), and set an opening date. If you are being led to go to school, then contact the universities and colleges you are interested in and ask for an information packet. Examine their degree plans and see which one will equip you to pursue your career goals. Contact the financial aid office and see what aid is available, research scholarships, and start a college savings account. Whatever you are feeling led to do, start doing something toward reaching that goal. Nothing is ever accomplished by sitting still.
Schools and public libraries will have books and computers available for scholarship or grant research. If you are starting a business, you can get help from the local chamber of commerce or Small Business Administration office. The SBA can be contacted at www.sba.gov. To learn the type of business that would be best for you, there are numerous interest inventories on the Internet (some are free). Go to Yahoo, Ask, or another search engine and enter interest inventory in the search window. Also talk to career and guidance counselors at school or the reference librarian at a library.
One thing concerns me about my life and about yours: Do we really want our time here to be a waste? I know I don’t. I want to have done something, made some contribution to this world that will live on long after I’m gone. It is a bad thing to live and die and no one even knew you existed. To have lived and not affected anybody’s life is a waste of your time here. Of course, what’s worse is to live without Christ and to die without Christ and have a wasted existence. Instead, we need to seek God’s purpose for our lives and seek to fulfill those purposes. We will see that it is much easier and fulfilling to conform to God’s purpose for our lives than our own.
Nike used to have a slogan: “Just do it.” That’s the best advice I can give to you and to me. This book is evidence that I am pursuing my dreams. How about you? In order for your life to have purpose or meaning does not mean you have to be rich or famous or powerful or successful. It means that your time here was spent in a way that brought glory to God. If you are a homemaker raising your kids to honor God, then you are serving your purpose. If you are a singer or writer or actor or small business owner and what you do is bringing glory to God, then you are serving your purpose. Fantasia is singing and giving glory to God for what He is doing in her life. Even if she fades away after a while, Fantasia can say her life was not a waste. Can that be said of any of us?
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First I like to talk about the econventions of written English. You have done a very good job with those in this piece, and though I saw a missing word here, a misplaced comma there, it is stuff you know how to find and your editor will find it too, so I won’t waste your credits on that.
Second, this is nonfiction, but not creative nonfiction so you need to deal with the facts and the usual rules about how to draw your reader in do not apply, or do they? Most people read this kind of book because they want to improve themselves, not because they enjoy reading it. This is true of this piece. If you started with a description of the stage where Fantasia was anxiously awaiting the decision of the judges, the lights, the hush of the crowd, the anticipation of the audience…you get the picture, you may be able to draw in a crowd who just wants to read. Taking every oportunity to SHOW instead of telling is what will create an enjoyable read, even for those who need no improvement!
Third, there are some notable problems with this piece. You are telling your reader how to seek God, but you only give a few pointers. This may be better if you make a list of ALL of the things a person needs to do in this search, and then give examples of how to go about doing them.
For example:”Seeking God also involves studying His Word.” at this point you might say ‘Set aside some time every morning to read from His Word. There are 31 Proverbs, one for each day of the month. After reading from todays chapter in proverbs read a chapter from the New Testament, and one from the Old Testament.’ It is easy to decide to do something, but it helps to have a method of doing when it comes to crunch time. Everyone will eventually have their own methods, but a starting place is nice for those of us who have never done this kind of thing.
Fourth, don’t leave out anything. For example look at your seeking God chapter. Do you know of anything else a person must do in his or her search for God? I discovered that seeking to love as he loves me was as much an important part of my search as prayer and scripture study. Learning to forgive unconditionally is also important. What other steps may be overlooked when someone is trying to seek God from a beginner’s point of view? Anything left out of your book will also be left out of your readers lives.
Fifth, eliminate everything that does not either support your teaching, or help to keep the interest of the reader. Again in your Seek God chapter you should simply drop that first paragraph. It is a repeat of what you just said and does not help the next section in making the point you are making there.
Sixth, try not to sound so preachy. Read the first paragraph as written, and then remove anything that refers to your reader. Use “I” statements and personal experience. You say “WE fail to work hard because…” you might, but you know nothing about me. Maybe I am working hard, just at the wrong things. Tell me about your mistakes or about the mistakes of someone else you know and I may relate. Don’t tell me about mine.
You have a sound idea here, and if you can fill it in and leave no instructions out you may be the next Rick Warren. Take another look at his writing, this time as a close reading rather than just trying to learn from him. Decide why he chose to use a particular word or phrase at any given point. This time learn from the writing instead of from the ideas written.
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You have a bad habit for the passive voice, “You are being led…” and that takes the oomph out of your language. You start out talking about Fantasia Barrino’s drive, go to “Purpose Driven Life,” then to the Bible, and then to Nike. If you stick to just one type of reference, ie self-help books, your work will flow much better. I appreciate what you are trying to say, but you wander in your subsections. Grammar is an occasional problem with sentence fragments, and voice is inconsistent. If your work is supposed to be elevated, you don’t want to interrupt your flow by addressing the reader directly. At times, your use of the second person seems preachy; I would use second person very sparingly. Also, watch your personal commentaries. You want the reader to make decisions for themselves, so you should work on being persuasive rather than intrusive. It’s a good start.
Take out the and has a child part from “single parent and has a child”> A single parent has to have a child to be a parent. It feels like you were repeating yourself a little. I like how you used your faith to encourge people to follow their dreams. To me anyway it seemed to get a little bogged down in the middle part. Overall I liked it. But I am young so maybe I didn’t understand it the right way.
second paragraph, end of line,quote needs quotation marks.
Fourth paragraph, second line, (to) purchase
fourth paragraph, third line, end of quote has an apostrophe instead of a quotation mark (typo)
Next paragraph, the Purpose Driven Life: if you can’t underline the title, put it into quotatioh marks and capitalize the first letter of the entire title; here, the needs a capital
Next paragraph, #1…needs a capital on “it” since all the others in the list start with a capital
Under subtitle, “DECIDE TO SUCCEED”, last sentence is a run-on and needs to be broken down into two sentences.
second paragraph, under same subtopic, fourth sentence: put it in the present tense as people are deciding to follow Christ as we speak.
second paragraph, third line, same section, after goal, colon(:) instead of hyphen;same correction goes for line five
You present a viable message here that is helpful to every reader. This message needs to be published and I hope you reach the goals you have set for yourself.
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