Archive for October, 2011

Posted on October 31, 2011 - by Kim

I Can’t Believe You Said That!

Dialogue. Every story needs at least a few doses of it. After all, it can drive the story. It can change the feel of a scene. Speed things up. Slow things down. Give a much-needed dash of humor to a heavy moment. Make a plot believable. It is quite the handy little tool for a writer. And it may be one of the most natural ones. After all, unless one is a hermit, it is something every human with language abilities takes part in at some time during every day.

Yet despite how natural it may be, there are still questions about its use. How much? Where does it need to go? What makes good dialogue?

While I don’t have a good answer for the first two – unless you would accept “Whatever feels right” as a response – I do have at least a basic handle on the last.

Good dialogue, according to instructors and authors, starts with being real. And ‘real’ doesn’t always mean grammatically correct. Just think about it. Do we speak in full eloquent sentences when we are relating the events of the weekend around the water cooler? No! Real conversation is made up of fragments and interruptions and stutters and grammar that would make my tenth grade English teacher blush. The dialogue in our stories should be constructed in the same manner.

However, being constructed in the same manner doesn’t translate into making the dialogue the same for every character. Just like clothing and mannerisms, the way a character speaks should be as unique as the personality you’ve created for him. If he stutters when he’s nervous, don’t have his dialogue sound as smooth as a Mozart sonata. If he’s British, don’t make him sound American. If he’s a Yankee, don’t make him proficient at a rebel yell.

Now this doesn’t mean you have to write every word of dialogue with an accent. For one, it’s hard for the reader to interpret. And two, unless you are Joel Chandler Harris, you will probably never accurately capture the nuances of any dialect. But a few dropped endings or common phrases thrown in will keep the reader’s belief suspended and allow him or her to accept the character as his own person.

And while common phrases are important to help make the character sound like himself, one should be careful of clichés. After all, clichés really don’t make it into every day conversation as much as we think they do.

Having said all this, I guess the best piece of advice I’ve ever read on dialogue is to listen to other people’s conversations. And I don’t mean eavesdrop. But listen to the ebb and flow. Of how the speaker puts the words together. Of the mistakes made and the strange vocal tics you may have never noticed before. Then go home and incorporate them into your story. While you might not want to believe your friend said that to her boss, your heroine will thank you for giving her the biting sense of humor it took to say it.

By the way, if you want a good book on dialogue, I’d suggest Dialogue by Gloria Kempton. It is part of the Write Great Fiction series published by Writer’s Digest Books.

 

Posted on October 29, 2011 - by Brenda Anderson

Celebration Time!!!

Remember a few years back when you were in elementary school, the days you looked forward to the most (besides weekends and vacations of course) were the holiday celebrations. Those were the days you actually wanted to go to school. You’d get to dress up for the Halloween parade, share a gift with a fellow student for the Christmas celebration, make a Valentine card to give to everyone in your class, etc. Food was usually involved in some way too.

Well today we’re interrupting our Writing 101 class to celebrate Publication <insert confetti throwing and noisemakers>. Yes, two of our esteemed authors  here at Inkspirational Messages–Jerri Lynn Ledford and Shannon Taylor Vannatter–have new releases out.

It’s time to party!

I’ve brought bars to share (reminder for non-Minnesotans, bars in this case are not the place you go to drink alcohol, rather they are highly sweetened, often chocolate treats, usually layered in a pan. Calories? <shhh. We don’t talk about them.>) Anyway, I digress.  If you’d like to bring something to share, that would be great!

So please come celebrate with us as we honor two of our very own.

Jerri’s debut novel, Biloxi Sunrise, released just this week. You can find it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble for just 99 cents. Yes, you heard me right: only 99 pennies. I already have it on my Kindle. Don’t have a Kindle or a Nook? No problem. Both Amazon and Barnes and Noble have computer apps you can download. So, no excuses.

Want to know more about Jerri? Stop by her terrific website: http://www.jerriledford.com/. You can also *like* her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jerri-Lynn-Ledford/147815135313371

BILOXI SUNRISE

The Biloxi Series

Debut Novel by Jerri Lynn Ledford

Deep South Press 2011

He hadn’t protected them.

When Homicide Special Investigator Jack Roe’s daughter is killed in an auto accident and his wife dies from a drug overdose, he abandons a promising career as a Military Police Officer. If only he’d been there when they needed him, he could have saved them both.

Posted on October 28, 2011 - by Dawn Ford

Conflict-The Heat Is On

Miriam Webster defines conflict as “the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction.”

Conflict is two-fold. There’s internal conflict and external conflict.

Internal conflict happens within the mind of the characters, normally the hero/heroine whose point of view you use in your writing. A struggle against right or wrong, one’s feelings and beliefs, or having to choose between two solutions to a problem. All of these are emotional distress which happen in the mind of your character. I’ve heard it explained as ‘man vs. himself’.

External conflict comes from outside forces getting in the way of the characters path, desires, or goals. This would be more of a ‘man vs. nature’ or ‘man vs. man’. Anything that happens outside of the mind of the character which hinders their path, desires, or goal is an external conflict.

Here’s an example, let’s see how many conflicts you can locate in the following fictional scenario from one of my manuscripts:

Adriana tells her parents at the last minute she needs something for a school project and begs her father to take her into town so she can get the supplies. She has a driver’s permit and her father allows her drive into town, even though it’s getting dark. The storm that had been predicted to go south of their little town heads off course and sweeps across the highway they take into town. Adriana is in a hurry and doesn’t heed her father’s warnings to slow down. In the downpour a drunken driver runs a light, hits their car, killing the father but sparing the girl who is only moderately injured. The loss overwhelms the girl and she becomes mad at a God who would allow this to happen. Adriana also blames herself for what happened and sees her withdrawn mother’s pain and anger as another burden of guilt. She begins to act out and take risks as she runs from the memories and her mother, all the while trying not to look too closely at herself  because she cannot face what she’s done or the person she is becoming.

Did you find the all the conflicts? Here’s mine:

External Conflict:                                                                   Internal Conflict:

1. School project that is due.                                       1. Procrastination
2. Time of day                                                           2. Stubbornness
3. Storm blows in, becomes a downpour.                      3. Over confidence
4. Girl’s age/inexperience                                             4. Hurt/Pain/Loss
5. Traffic light.                                                           5.  Guilt
6. Drunken driver hits their car.                                    6.  Anger at God
7. Father is killed.                                                       7. Rebellion

And that’s where I begin to turn the heat up. You see, this scenario isn’t even in my manuscript. It happens three years prior to my first chapter. But it’s this scenario that brings my protagonist on her path to where my story begins. Even in the planning stage I already have conflict, both internal and external and I don’t have any words down yet.

All three of the man vs. self/nature/man have been used as well.

Every page should have some conflict on it. Shannon Vannatter showed me a couple of years ago how to highlight the various parts of my manuscript and find the tension on every page-whether internal or external. If I didn’t have any ‘pink’ on that page I knew I had to add something somewhere.

The trick to conflict, though, is to give your characters a chance to rest and have a happy moment in between some of the drama. It gives the next crisis that needed smack in your face flavor because you’ve just sighed a breath of release when Wham! here you go again. Don’t be afraid to turn the heat up just a tad.

 

Posted on October 27, 2011 - by Shari Barr

The Vitals of Point of View

Early in the preplanning of your book, you will need to decide how you wish to treat viewpoint. 

First-person and third-person viewpoints are the most common methods used in writing fiction. Second-person can also be used if you want to address the reader personally—You look out the window and see a figure creeping toward you in the darkness…This is an awkward and unpopular writing style today, though, so I’ll skip over it and discuss first and third person today.

First-person point of view involves writing as though you, the author, are the main character, written with the pronoun “I.” Pretend you have a camera on your forehead. The reader can only see what the narrator sees, knows, or feels.

Here are several advantages for writing in first-person:

• It’s easy to get inside your protagonist’s mind.
• It’s natural since we all tell our life story from our own point of view.
• The language can be chattier—like the thoughts that are going through our own minds.

Here are some disadvantages of first-person:

• It’s difficult to give the protagonist a unique voice, without him or her sounding like you.
• It’s hard for the main character to describe their personal appearance without resorting to the overdone method of looking in a mirror.
• Characterization can be tricky when you can’t get inside the minds of other characters.

Third-person point of view means the author (and reader) only knows what is going on inside the mind of the viewpoint character, and the writer uses the pronouns “he” or “she” to tell the story. You can stay inside one character’s head for the entire book (third-person, limited viewpoint) or you can tell your story from the viewpoint of several different characters (third-person, multiple viewpoints.) 

Writing from a limited viewpoint is almost as personal as writing in first-person and you can also come right out and describe your protagonist’s appearance. However, the limited viewpoint restricts the information you may want to relay to your reader.

Writing in third-person, multiple viewpoints is one of the most popular methods used in writing fiction. When using this method, however, you must become the character whose point of view you are using at that particular time. With every viewpoint change, each person must be consistent with his or her true character. Your teenage character’s point of view will not be the same as your thirty-year-old female’s viewpoint. This can be tricky with a first novel but is well worth practicing and perfecting.  

One problem of writing in third-person from the viewpoint of two or more characters is learning how to transition into the mind of a different person so as not to confuse the reader. Many times writers may alternate chapters—each chapter is told from the viewpoint of a different character. This works well and is easy to follow. 

If you need to change viewpoint within a chapter, do so at the end of a scene. This is often done with an extra line break, so the reader is clear about the change. 

It’s okay to change viewpoint when necessary if you have a good reason to do so and the reader isn’t confused in the process. 

Point of view doesn’t have to be tricky. At first, you may not know which to use for your book. As you begin the planning stages of your novel, one method may seem more natural and beneficial for the story you’re telling. 

Read, read, and read some more. Then study the different styles to decide which viewpoint style is right for your novel. And, remember, none of these rules are written in stone.

Posted on October 25, 2011 - by Shannon Vannatter

GMC: The Engine Behind Your Characters & Plot

GMC. The first time I heard of it, I’d signed with an agent. Back in 2002 with my original version of White Roses. She told me I should read GMC. I thought car. She patiently explained that it’s a book—GMC: Goals, Motivation, & Conflict by Debra Dixon. It was out of print, but I found a copy for $19.95. I was a stay at home mom and it wasn’t in our budget to pay that much for a used book.

Shortly afterward, the agent downsized her list and I was one of her clients that got cut. Looking back, I don’t know why she signed me. She’s a good agent, still in the business, and has sold a lot of books. All I can figure is that she saw promise, but soon realized she didn’t have enough time to polish a diamond in the rough. And I don’t blame her. I know now that my writing wasn’t anywhere near publishable then.

Fast forward to 2008. I went to the ACFW conference in Minneapolis, where I had a paid critique for Rodeo Dust with Margaret Daley. In my original version, my heroine is at the State Fair of Texas, touring livestock barns with a co-worker/date. Even though, she hates farm animals and she has a rule about not dating co-workers.

Margaret: “Why would the heroine go to place she doesn’t enjoy with a co-worker on a date when she has a rule not to date co-workers?”

Me: “So she can meet the hero there.”

Margaret: “You need to read GMC.”

Okay. I gave in. You don’t have to beat me over the head with it. When I got home, I ordered the book. By then, Debra Dixon had gotten the rights back and I got a new copy for $19.95.

I read it from cover to cover and discovered a whole new world. A world that makes everything your characters do—make sense. I changed it to where my Rodeo Dust heroine went with her brother to the fair because she wanted him to date her best friend. So she accompanied them, so it wouldn’t seem like a date and they could realize how much in common they had. See how much better that is?

I also worked out the GMC for White Roses and every other book I’d been reworking for years. Now, I carefully chart out my GMC before I start a book.

Most of the time anyway. I jumped into a story not too long ago, just because it had been bugging me for a long time. I wrote the first three chapters in a hurry, then had an editor express interest when I showed her the One Sheet. I sent it to my critters, Brenda, Lorna, and Jerri. 

Brenda: “I don’t understand her goal.”

Me: “Oops. I just dashed it off and forgot to do the GMC.”

I worked out the GMC and made changes. Brenda liked it. And so did I

So for a short lesson:

G – Goal: This is what your character wants. 

M – Motivation: This is why your character wants the goal.

C – Conflict: This is why your character can’t reach their goal. 

My heroine wanted her brother to date her best friend because she wants them both to be happy, but they wouldn’t agree to go out on a date.

Thus my Rodeo Dust heroine tours the livestock barns, hating every minute of it. But her brother and best friend love it, proving that they should live happily ever after, just like she knew they should. It makes perfect sense for her to be there. And while she’s there, she meets the hero.

This is only the GMC for the first scene. Your GMC for the entire plot needs to have much more at stake. Something like, if the heroine doesn’t get her brother and best friend together, her brother will accept that job offer in China.

I could get into a lot more detail, but I believe that’s called plagiarism. In short, your story should have an over-arcing internal and external GMC. But each scene should have GMC also. If you work out the GMC for every scene, everything your character does will make perfect sense. 

Maybe if I’d have gotten the book back in 2002, I’d have sold White Roses in 2003 instead of 2009.

To get into all the intricacies of internal and external GMC, I highly recommend the book. This is one of the few craft books that doesn’t make my brain glaze over. It’s all laid out in a simple, easy to understand format. Debra Dixon is now an acquisitions editor at a publishing house. And since 2008, I’ve had editors actually ask me about my characters’ GMC during pitch sessions.

Posted on October 23, 2011 - by Lorna Seilstad

Writing 101: Plotting not Plodding

According to eHow, plotting a story has the difficulty level of “moderate.” Then again, what do they know?

For some writers, the idea of plotting strikes them with a fear akin to walking barefoot over hot coals. This often results in the age-old discussion of what is better—writing by the seat of your pants or creating a
detailed plot.

That’s not what we’re here to talk about today. With Na-no-wri-mo (National Novel Writing Month) right around the corner, the Inkspers will be holding Writing 101 for the next two weeks, and today’s class is on, you guessed it, plotting.

The truth is all writers plot. Some do so deliberately on paper, spreadsheets, or index cards while others do so in their heads. Those who claim to be plotters also cover a wide range. You might find one plotter creating an elaborate storyboard on the wall of their office o and another listing a few key scenes on a piece of paper and calling it good.

No method is superior. However, a little plotting may save you a great deal of time plodding through the story. Knowing where you’re going with the story, often makes it easier for you to plunge ahead. Besides, most publishers request a detailed synopsis with a proposed series. Some even ask for a chapter by chapter outline of the book you have proposed writing.

So where is person to start?
Character is plot, and plot is character.

Nearly everyone agrees on one thought. The best stories begin with the character. Before you even think about plotting a story, take time to know a few things about your character. What do they want? What makes them special? What is unusual about them? (Tomorrow, Shannon will discuss more about this.)

If you’re writing a romance, how do you want the hero and heroine to meet? This is called “The Meet.” Suprise. Surprise. This often goes hand in hand with the catalyst scene, which propels the characters into their new world. It could be a disaster, a new dilemma, or even an opportunity. In
Making Waves, The Meet and the Catalyst occur when Marguerite slips off the pier and has to be rescued from the water by Trip.

You’re also going to want to know what’s going to push them together over and over, and what is going to pull them apart. This is called the “Push/Pull.” (Aren’t we a creative bunch?)  Are the characters forced to work on the same project or in the same office? Are they both headed in the same direction on a train? These kinds of events will pull them together.

Now, the key is what will push them apart. In A Great Catch, she was a klutzy suffragette who didn’t want distracted from her women’s rights work. He was an athletic baseball pitcher who wanted to change her mind. This constant conflict pushed them apart on a regular basis.

What else do you need before you put pen to paper or fingers to a keyboard? It can be as easy as two disasters and a climax/black moment. These are key moments in the story where everything changes.  At the point of the black moment, the reader must believe there is no hope for the hero and heroine to ever get their happily ever after.

Books on plotting abound, but one of the best is Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell.  Do
yourself a favor and pick it up. And remember, use whatever method works for you!

So, if you’re a writer, how much do you plot before you begin? And if you’re a reader, what do you look for in a the plot of a book or movie?

Posted on October 21, 2011 - by Kav

Oh Mercy! Not Mercy!

In the words of the immortal Alexander I’ve been having a rash of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days (Viorst, Judith : Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day). There isn’t an area of my life that isn’t riddled with challenges right now. From limited Internet access to horrendously long commuting times, to debilitating chronic pain that won’t let up. Let’s just say that mercy isn’t the first word that comes to mind when I contemplate my life. So how on earth am I supposed to turn the following scripture into a devotional?

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:6)

I posed that very question to my Heavenly Father last weekend (somewhat sarcastically, I might add) and here is his answer.

The first thing you need to know about me is that I was a believer before I even knew what that meant. But even though I follow the Lord’s teachings I often fall short when applying His mercy to me. I’m great at extending it to others though and my mind understands the concepts of forgiveness, clemency, and compassion but my heart won’t always allow me to apply those qualities of mercy to myself. Perhaps that is part of the reason I often fail to recognize the manifestation of the Lord’s mercy in my own life. But does the Lord give up on me? No! But he’s not above shaking things up a bit in order to get my attention!

Throughout my life there have been a handful of startling ‘God moments’ when I have needed them most. I hope you know what I’m talking about – they’re the kind of moments that pack a powerful spiritual punch and can’t be explained away as coincidence or happenchance. One such moment happened last Saturday on my way home from a shift at the college.

After six hours of standing at the reference desk I could barely move let alone make the trek across campus to the bus depot in a timely fashion. I’ll admit to grumbling a bit to God along the way, then realizing that I wouldn’t make it in time and the bus only runs every hour I decided to sit down on a bench and read for twenty minutes or so.

You don’t want to do that.

Uh yeah, I really did. My foot was an explosion of pain and I could barely put any pressure on it. I sat.

Go to the new green building.

Nuh-uh. That would require traversing a rabbit warren of hallways that would make a maze-builder dizzy. I always got lost in B building and I didn’t have the fortitude to make that kind of trek. My foot hurt…a lot.

You’ve been meaning to see the living wall.

That pleasure could wait for another day.

Go. Now.

Before I realized what was happening I was standing, cane firmly grasped in my hand. I hobbled into B building and hesitated. Left or Right?

Left.

I made my way through the most ridiculous piece of architectural design known to mankind. Corridors narrower than an arm span all built in the shape of a honeycomb. It was easy to get lost and turn in circles, ending up at the same landing over and over again. I know; I’d done it so many times I always avoided this section of the building.

But last Saturday I navigated it with relative ease and despite the poor signage found myself at the link that bridged the way to the new building. The living wall was just as beautiful as I imagined it to be – a floor to ceiling expanse of greenery that touched my gardener’s soul. The soothing sound of running water echoed around the cavernous room and set me to thinking about Shannon’s blog about still waters. She used a term I’d heard often enough – Let Go and Let God. I’m not very good at that.

I’ve enjoyed taking a deeper look at the meaning behind Psalm 23 and it occurred to me, standing there, that I had been a wanderer rather than a follower for a long time. I was so wrapped up in the act of surviving day by day that I hadn’t noticed I’d strayed  — not far, mind you – just out of earshot. I’d closed myself off from the promptings of the Spirit, struggling as I tried to do everything my way. I felt some of that control slip just a teensy bit. It felt good – but not good enough to let go completely! I still had some issues with the way God was orchestrating my life and I wanted an explanation. But when I asked why, I was greeted by silence. That got my dander up. Didn’t I deserve an explanation? Wouldn’t it be easier to endure if I understood why?

Now I’m not very proud of this fact, but I slipped back into my old ways and proceeded to list a litany of complaints in the guise of a prayer. “I can handle one…or two or even three things, but really – does everything in my life have to be this way?” More silence. “Are you even listening?” Apparently not.

I huffed off in a snit, down another hallway towards the bus station. It was deserted except for a young man on his cell phone. I could hear part of his conversation as I limped by. It struck me that his side of the conversation was refreshingly free of expletives. He made eye contact – he nodded, I smiled and continued on my way. I hadn’t gone far when I heard him say, “Listen, Dad, I have to go. There’s something I gotta do. I’ll call you later.” Then I heard footsteps pounding behind me. They stopped as he moved in front of me, halting my progress.

He looked nervous and apparently was struggling to say something. If I hadn’t heard him talking on the phone I would have thought he had a speech impediment, but then he blurted out. “I don’t know why, but I feel like you need to know that God listens to your prayers.”

I gaped at him and he hurried on and what proceeded out of his mouth was nothing short of miraculous. In a few sentences he addressed some of the issues that I had been struggling with. There is no way this young man could have known any of that and as he talked a peace settled over me.

“Can I pray for you?” He didn’t wait for my reply, but bent his head and began with “Oh merciful God…” The power of the spirit flowed into me as I listened to his words. Here was the mercy I had been seeking in a form I could never have predicted. This tall, lanky boy who was barely 18 ministered to me that day as a representative of the Savior, I am certain of it.

I hesitated to blog about this experience but I felt that if this young man had the courage to follow the promptings of the Spirit than I should too. So here it is — Mercy in it’s greatest form – an outreach of compassion and faith at the hands of a stranger.

Posted on October 20, 2011 - by Regina

MY CUP RUNNETH OVER . . .

Thou anointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over. Psalm 23:5b KJV

Blessings.

David knew both sides of blessings. As a boy, he was low on the “pecking order” at his house. The little brother. The older boys probably called him “sheep boy” when they wanted to degrade him even more.

When Samuel came around looking for the king that would replace Saul, did anybody inform David when daddy Jesse was told to round up his boys and line them up for inspection? Of course not. He was the bottom of the heap.

Interestingly enough, when Samuel had made his way through the entire lineup of Jesse’s sons, God whispered in his ear that there was another one out there, and that he was THE ONE.

When he arrived, probably dirty, stinky, and followed by a flock of sheep, Samuel anointed his head with oil.

The boy who would be king.

I would imagine that it was after this that David, ahead of his time as usual, probably coined the idea of “glass half full/glass half empty.” We know from reading the historical accounts of David’s life and from reading his poetry, that it wasn’t smooth sailing from there.

Saul tried to kill him.

He made bad decisions in leadership that led to adultery, murder, and the death of a child.

His children conspired against him.

He was not allowed by God to build His temple.

And yet he wrote this: My cup overflows.

This tells me more about David and his relationship with God than anything else. He knew that God’s blessings were far and above anything he, in his human condition, could possibly fathom. David understood the foundation of God’s love.

Grace.

Grace says that we get what we don’t deserve. We don’t deserve a relationship with Jesus, but He’s offered it to us. We don’t deserve salvation, but He gives it to all that ask.

David was, after all, a man after God’s own heart. Just like us.

Glass half full? Glass half empty?

Glass running over.

Posted on October 19, 2011 - by Brenda Anderson

You Prepare A Table …

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Psalm 23:5a

I’ll admit, this verse and I have had a bit of a wrestling match over these past couple of weeks.

If I take this verse literally (and being a literal thinker, I tend to do that), it says He prepares a table, a feast, bounty for me. It’s true, I do have everything I need, but then I live in the United States of America, the land of abundance.

What about those who live in Sudan? Ethiopia? India? Where is their feast?

And then the verse goes on to say He prepares this feast in front of my enemies.

Enemies?  I don’t have any enemies. Maybe there are a few people I don’t really care for, and I’m probably not their favorite person either, but we’re not enemies.

Back when King David penned this Psalm, he  was intimate with the word enemy, from fighting lions and bears, to besting Goliath, and then warring against nations. David knew God always provided, and his enemies were witnesses to those provisions.

But what about us today?

It took a while for this to sink in, but the feast and the enemy this verse speaks of today is far more spiritual than literal. The fact is, I do have enemies:

• Insecurity
• Doubt
• Fatigue
• Frustration

And anything else that keeps me from a full communion with God, that prevents me from experiencing His abundant love; they are deadly enemies.

But God has provided a banquet in my enemies’ presence.

When I question my value, God loves me with me an outpouring of His words, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; …” Psalm 139:13-14.

When I question His existence, He gifts me with a sunset ribboned with a harvest of colors, and tree leaves dipped to match.

When fatigue and weariness weigh me down, preventing me from giving my all, He grants rest: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened; and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.

Posted on October 18, 2011 - by JerriLynn

Your Rod and Your Staff, They Comfort Me

I love the 23rd Psalm. It’s a promise of protection and provision, so when I come to the end of the 4th verse, I’m always confused. Here is the story of  a loving God that provides rest and restoration. He provides nourishment and guidance. And He is with me, no matter what I must go through.

And then there’s the statement Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

I never understood that. To me, a rod and a staff are tools of punishment and correction. What I’ve learned recently is how wrong that I am.

A Shepherd has one job. To keep His flock safe. There are many facets to accomplishing that end. He must protect them. He must nurture them. He must guide them and care for them.  And to do all of these things, the Shepherd has only two tools: His rod and His staff.

To understand how these two tools do not apply to discipline in this case, it’s important to understand how the tools are used by the Shepherd. The rod was not a stick with which He beat the sheep to keep them in line. In actuality, it was a thick piece of wood used to protect the flock. Shepherds didn’t have guns or other weapons. They had sticks. And if danger threatened the flock, the Shepherd used that stick to help eliminate the danger.

The staff, on the other hand was typically a longer stick, with a curved end. The Shepherd kept the staff with Him at all times, and He used it for a number of purposes. For example, the curved end of the staff was perfect for pulling wayward sheep back into the group if they began to wander too far astray. It was also perfect for bringing the group together if they were faced with danger.

A good Shepherd could use that staff as a means of “steering” his flock, as well. He would simply lay the staff on the back of the leading sheep, and with gentle pressure he could guide them in the desired direction.

So, Shepherds were not about beating their flocks into submission. And the tools they used were not designed to that end. Instead, a Shepherd formed a bond with his flock. It is said it was such a tight bond that the sheep would recognize his voice in the midst of other flocks and other shepherds. And he used the tools of his trade to further that trusting bond. After all, the Shepherd has more to gain by creating a trusting, loyal flock, than he has to gain by beating his flock into submission.

So, “Your road and your staff, they comfort me” is not a verse about discipline and embracing the discipline that is sometimes necessary. It’s a verse about trust. It’s about believing the Shepherd will protect and guide you on your journey. And there is comfort to be had knowing that your Shepherd cares enough about you that He would have the tools needed to ensure you are safe and well cared for in His care.