The 12 Startling Similarities Between God and the Right Editor

I've been a writer all my life. I cannot remember a time when my right hand did not grasp a pen and moved left to right on a page, documenting the significant and insignificant morsels of living.

A few years ago, I was struck by lightning and had the tremendous opportunity to work with make/shift magazine, and with Jess Hoffman, and slowly begin learning about the fundamentals of editing.

Editing has its moments of excruciating difficulty. It is not the free flowing creative river that is writing. It can be an unpredictable whiplash that stings every time you work with a new writer. I've had the magnificent pleasure of learning from many different kinds of writers and editors and, today, thought of the countless similarities I began seeing in my relationship with God and my relationship with editing.

This is what I found...

The Twelve Startling Similarities Between God and the Right Editor

1) The Editor works with you and your ideas, trying to observe and guide and not intercede.

2) When you are excessively verbose, the Editor gets to the heart of what you are saying.

3) The Editor is patient, but nudges you from time to time.

4) The Editor knows that the writer must equally trust the Editor and believe in herself.

5) The Editor has worked with so many different kinds of writers, you know there's nothing that the Editor hasn't seen.

6) The Editor knows what is sacred and carefully addresses issues close to your heart.

7) The Editor has a vision, but it is co-authored.

8) Ultimately, the Editor wants your best self, your best work, and works with you to make that manifest.

9) Often times in conversation with the Editor, you realize hidden truths underneath a lot of rubble.

10) "I know what I know, what do YOU think?"

11) The Editor will never give you an assignment that is too large for you to handle.

12) The Editor has a way of arranging things that leaves you mystified, dumbstruck, and grateful.

So, to all the writers out there: I wish you not only deep, rich soil to till your work in, I wish you a gracious and visionary editor who believes in your ability to fruitfully open a truth for yourself to share with the world.

A Trip Back to 1994 With Tom Brokaw

It's 1994. My first year of highschool and something is gaining momentum...
Huh? What's the internet?

Boston Undies

Keith is in town.

As he is now Mr. Audit for Macy's, Keith has spent the weekend with us here in Beantown. Knowing that Keith's been up here a few times before, we knew that entertaining wouldn't be difficult. A few bars and good eats provided a fitting backdrop as we got to spend some quality time catching up.

On Saturday afternoon, Nick, Keith, and I went into Harvard Square for the afternoon. After a nice lunch at Au Bon Pan, Nick and Keith headed off to explore and I went to explore the sales at some of my favorite retail places. We met up at the great bar of John Harvard's Brewery and I saw Nick's shoulders sag with relief when he saw me return with empty hands. No shopping bags means thicker wallet in butt pocket.

We headed back home and walked to the T stop (Boston's public train station) and amidst our chatting, I noticed an odd site. I shook my head thinking I saw it wrong. I looked again and I could have sworn I saw a few men with jackets and ties, but no pants - only boxers. Nick and Keith were engaged in conversation and I peaked around them to get another look. A few more people appeared in their underwear and before I knew it the train pulled up and Nick was pushing me along to get on the train.

Nick and Keith looked dumbfounded as Fox news and police officers were on the train with us. Cameramen were interviewing common T riders asking how they felt about riding the T with others in their underwear. It was then I looked beside me and saw a man, mostly normally dresssed in a nice suit, except for no pants. He was wearing boxers. Nonchalantly, he read the newspaper and Keith was swiping glances out of the corner of his eye while he did the infamous silent shoulder-shaking Keith laugh.

I looked around and saw a number of police officers just ensuring that nothing too outrageous occured.

Nothing outrageous?

Fox news, police officers, and people running around in their underwear on the T was just another funny day in Boston. As it turns out, it was just an organized harmless prank of over 500 individuals to get people smiling and laughing. Click here for the full story.

As we contemplated whether to drop our own pants or not, Nick, Keith and I could barely contain our laughter when we overheard a police officer say, "Yeah, did you see that one guy's boxers? The Rubix Cube ones? He must be an engineer or something."

God's People, Just Not God's Poet

Nick and I pray a lot.

Each morning, we roll out of bed, stumble into the morning, and gather our life forces to tackle another Boston day of job, work, study, people....life. You know it, you do it, too.

Just before I head off to work (three flights of stairs to my office) and Nick meanders toward BC for class, we gather each other up, sit on the couch and pray.

We pray for strength to get through each day; in gratitude for our many blessings. We ask that God keeps our friends and family safe in all of their endeavors and throw in a few extra special intentions as well.

We slso take turns leading prayer. Once we sit, I extend a finger and poke Nick in the shoulder and say, "YOU. Go," signaling that it's his turn to lead. We both have days where we are more eloquent, when we know exactly what to say and the other is moved with grace and spirit.

However, yesterday, Nick's prayer took a different sort of a twist...

Thank you, Lord for this day. We ask that you continue to guide us in all that we do and that we are always aware of your love, your Spirit, and forgiveness. Lord, we thank you for all of our blessings, this day and everyday. It is a blessing to think about starting a family, while others are wondering where they are going to sleep tonight. It is a blessing to have options about what vocations we want, while others do not have enough to eat. It is a blessing to wonder about the course of our lives while others, uh,...others worry about getting killed by their neighbors. We thank you for everything. Amen.

Midway I ducked my face into Nick's armpit but my shoulders were already shaking.

N: What?

L: -unable to speak-

N: What?!

L: "....WHILE OTHERS WORRY ABOUT GETTING KILLED BY THEIR NEIGHBORS?"
I was laughing so hard I couldn't even breathe.

N: Why's that funny?

L: You think that many people in this world are worrying about getting gunned down by their next door neighbor?

N: Well, that shows how wide your perspective is - I was thinking about the people in Darfur!

L: I am not insensitive to global issues, I was just stuck in the US-based context of prayer. I was limiting myself to thinking about our own country. Yes, you are right. People in Darfur worry about their safety relative to that of their neighbors.

N: It's true!

L: I know. It's just semantics. "...worry about getting killed by the neighbors..." That's just some serious morning prayer.