The day my friend Tiffany received her driver’s license, she also received a brand-new 1992 Volkswagen Cabriolet convertible. Also known as a “Rabbit,” her car was “Tornado” red with a white top and white leather interior. It was quite possibly the cutest car I had ever seen. We climbed in, dropped the top, and primped our hair in the visor mirrors. Never one to hide my envy very well, I commented, “You’re so lucky that your dad bought you such an awesome car!” Tiffany stiffened a little as she fidgeted with her keys. Under her breath, she muttered, “If only he weren’t trying to buy my love.”
I knew Tiffany’s home life was hard and that her parents were going through a divorce. The Rabbit might’ve been a not-so-subtle peace (or guilt) offering. The gift’s goodness was questionable because it seemed tainted with impure motives. The thing she wanted from her dad, more than a new set of wheels, was something he was apparently incapable of giving. She wanted security in his love and peace in her home.
I never forgot that little comment and insight into Tiffany’s life. I saw the convertible as an enviable and good gift, but for her, it was much more complicated than that. The thing in itself may have been good, but the love underneath was out of order.
Rightly ordered loves
This idea of rightly ordered loves goes all the way back to the great theologian Augustine. He believed that the choices we make, and the way we order our loves (ordo amoris), are based on what we believe will be for our greatest good. So if we think a new car will smooth over our relationship with our angry teenager, we might buy it—not necessarily because it is best for them, but because we believe it will best serve us.
While our understanding of what’s good is often slanted toward our benefit, Augustine argued that the summum bonum (the supreme good) is God himself. Since God is the supreme good, nothing in all of creation is better than him. God is good, and he defines what is good (Ps. 34:8, Mark 10:18, Jas. 1:17). Therefore, if we want to live for the summum bonum, we must order our loves according to his Word. When we make it our aim to love God supremely and love others, we know we’re falling into the proper order Jesus commanded (Matt. 22:34-40).
God is a God of order, and he calls order “good.” In the creation account, God creates everything, and the repeated refrain is, “And God saw that it was good.” Proper order is never incidental—it reflects the goodness of God stamped into creation.
Order is good
We were made in the image of the Creator, who patterned for us goodness and order. Which means that whenever we make anything—a home, a sentence, an argument—we are doing, on a small and human scale, what God did on a divine and cosmic one: bringing order out of chaos. The writer who deliberately orders her sentences, paragraphs, and arguments to benefit her readers isn’t just following a craft rule; she is imaging God.
I’m not claiming to have reached the status of being a “good” writer, nor am I especially qualified to teach anyone how to become one. However, one of the things I love most about writing is seeing order emerge out of chaos. It’s the same sort of satisfaction I get when I organize a messy drawer or clear a cluttered shelf.
There’s a “before” picture in my mind that’s in the shape of ideas scribbled on a notebook page. After hours or days of trying to wrangle those thoughts into something coherent, an “after” picture emerges in the shape of a blog post, chapter, or newsletter.
Sitting in that mess and working my way out is its own kind of holy leisure. It forces me to think long on what’s good, true, and beautiful. It requires me to see and to believe every word, and it transforms me before it can serve anyone else—and this is a good work!
How to aim for good order on the page
Good writing is not only about beautiful sentences but also about rightly ordered attention. It removes what’s unnecessary and adds what’s needed to make the words on the page do their best work. It asks good questions in pursuit of a good end. Here are five questions to ask yourself when you are aiming to write good and true words.
- What does this piece ask my reader to love? And does that thing deserve such love?
- Am I writing about darkness in a way that invites the reader to dwell in it, or to see through it?
- Is the suffering in this piece purposeful? Does it reveal truth or point toward hope?
- If I stripped away all the Christian language, would the piece still point toward redemption? Or would it leave the reader in despair?
- What do I want the reader to do, feel, believe, or become after reading this? Is that a good end?
A good end
The motives behind our gift-giving can be as important as the gift itself. Who knows whether Tiffany’s dad had impure motives behind his extravagant gift or not? All I know is that Tiffany felt the disorder in her heart. No adorable little convertible could substitute for the unconditional love she longed to receive from her dad.
Christian writers face a similar danger. We can dazzle our readers with fancy prose without leading them anywhere, much less pointing to the summum bonum. That does not mean our words must always scream “Christian!” to be faithful. Creation bears silent witness to the goodness of God’s created order. Similarly, rightly ordered words can bear witness to the goodness of God through clarity, beauty, and restraint.
When we labor for order in our writing, we honor God and image him. This is the true, good, and beautiful work of the Christian writer. Rightly ordered love shapes rightly ordered words, helping readers see and savor the supreme good—God himself. Don’t aim to give your readers something flashy. Aim to give them something good.
Cara
Related Posts:
- The Christian Writer’s First Obligation is to See
- 20 Bible Verses for Creatives and Makers
- How Holy Leisure Helps You See More Clearly
P.S. To learn more about holy leisure, check out my book: The Pursuit of Holy Leisure: Enjoying God in Everyday Places.
P.P.S. Do you long for your writing to be good, true, and beautiful, and to come from a place of rest? Download “The Writer’s Examination Guide” as it leads you through questions to ask as you craft your words.