Tag: Memoir

J.K. Rowling on Writing

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“Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic,” says J.K. Rowling.
 
With just a few words, we can create entire worlds, inspire dreams, and connect deeply with one another.
 
Words hold a transformative power that knows no bounds. Each sentence, each carefully chosen phrase, has the ability to transport readers to far-off places, stir their emotions, and leave a lasting impact.
 
Whether you’re crafting a novel, writing poetry, or sharing a heartfelt message, remember that your words carry immense magic within them. Words can be magical.
 
Embrace the endless possibilities of language. Let your words work their magic, touching lives, sparking imagination, and shaping the world around you.
 
Words are a gift—use them wisely and powerfully.
 
 

Nolan Bushnell On Creativity

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“Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has had an idea,” says Nolan Bushnell.
 
But it’s not just about having ideas—it’s about acting on them.
 
The difference lies in what happens next: the person who steps out, dries off, and takes action turns those ideas into reality. It’s easy to dream, but the real impact comes from doing. Whether it’s starting a project, writing that first line, or taking the first step, action is what transforms ideas into something meaningful.
 
Embrace your ideas, and then act on them.  Make a difference by turning your thoughts into reality, one step at a time.

 

Monet on Art

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“Colour is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment,” said Claude Monet.
 
For Monet, the pursuit of capturing the perfect hues consumed his every moment, bringing both profound joy and intense challenge.
 
Color was more than just a visual element; it was the heart of his art, the essence that breathed life into his masterpieces. Every shade, every tone was a reflection of his passion and dedication, driving him to explore the depths of beauty and emotion.
 
Embrace the power of color in your own creative journey. Let it be your inspiration, your challenge, and your joy. Through color, express the full spectrum of your artistic vision.
 

W.S. Merwin on Creativity

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“I learned from my own work that the poem is a way of seeing and feeling both at once,” said W.S. Merwin, a poet whose influence resonates deeply.
 
Merwin’s poetry invites us to experience the world through a lens that merges vision and emotion, offering a profound connection to both the inner and outer landscapes.
 
As a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and U.S. Poet Laureate, Merwin’s words transcend mere language. His work embodies a rare spiritual presence, much like Thoreau’s, capturing the essence of human experience and the natural world.
 
Embrace poetry as a means of seeing and feeling simultaneously. Through your own writing, discover the power to reveal truths that touch the soul and awaken the senses.
 

 

Anne Lamott on Writing

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“Don’t be afraid to write badly, everyone does,” says Anne Lamott in *Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life*.
 
The fear of imperfection often holds us back, but remember that every writer faces this challenge. The key is to start, to put pen to paper, and let the words flow.
 
The magic happens in the process.
 
As you begin, the words will come, and what starts as a rough draft can evolve into something beautiful. Writing badly is just the first step toward writing well.
 
So, take that leap and just start.
 
 

Steven Pressfield on Creativity

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“Creative work is a gift to the world and every being in it,” says Steven Pressfield.
 
Your creativity is a unique contribution that enriches and inspires those around you. By holding back, you deny the world your invaluable gift.
 
Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Share your talents and ideas generously. Your work has the power to touch lives, spark change, and bring joy and understanding to others.
 
Embrace the courage to create and give us what you’ve got.  Your creativity is a precious gift that the world needs.

Bob Dylan on Creativity

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“Creativity is a funny thing. When we’re inventing something, we’re more vulnerable than we’ll ever be,” says Bob Dylan.
 
In these moments, eating and sleeping fade away, and we enter a state of “Splendid Isolation,” much like the solitude Warren Zevon sang about and Georgia O’Keeffe embraced in the desert.
 
To be truly creative, you often need to be unsociable and intensely focused. It’s not about being violent or ugly, but about being unfriendly and distracted, immersed in your own world. This self-sufficiency allows you to stay focused and channel your energy into your work.
 
Embrace this solitude and vulnerability. It’s in these moments of deep focus and isolation that true creativity blossoms, allowing you to create something unique and powerful.
 
 
Picture source:
Alberto Cabello from Vitoria Gasteiz, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
 

Saturday Morning Musings

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It’s Saturday morning, October 23, 2021 as I type.

Florida Christian Writer’s Conference

Several of my dear friends in Christ are attending the Florida Christian Writer’s Conference at Lake Yale, Florida. They arrived early in the week and will be there through tomorrow. How I wish I was there! They’re all being obedient to God’s call on their life to write.

Why not join me in praying for them as they seek instruction, direction, an agent or a writing contract, and for safety for them and their families as they are at the conference and travel home.

Can you guess where I’m at this morning?

Can you guess where I’m at this morning? Wrong, if you said Lake Yale. You’re right if you said with confidence, “Starbucks!” That’s right, I’m at Starbucks. I’m such a person of habit and routine. Some of you know me so well. If I asked what am I drinking, most – you’d shout COFFEE, which is the correct answer.

But if we add to the question “what type,” some of you will give a smarty-pants answer of Starbucks, which is correct. However, I’m asking what type or flavor of Starbucks coffee am I drinking. Then the answer is harder. Yes, I know I need to ask better questions.

You have a fifty-fifty chance to get the correct flavor of Starbucks coffee I’m drinking. The answer is “Pike Place Roast” or “Blonde Roast.” Today I’m enjoying the Pike Place Roast coffee.

Prescriptions and More Prescription Medicines

Getting ready to drive to the coffee shop sometimes is a small adventure. This morning I choked down my morning prescriptions. I current take twenty-four per day with forty percent in the mornings and sixty percent in the afternoon. For the math geeks, I took fourteen this morning and will take ten tonight. I know that’s not inexact 60/40 split, but it’s close enough. 

Friday, I started another six-day round of steroids yesterday. I took six steroid pills on Friday. Today I took five. I’m also taking Amoxicillin. It’s another sinus and ear-infection. No, these RXs aren’t in my daily count as they are short term, not maintenance prescriptions.

How Does a Guy Make a Ponytail (on Himself)?

You’ll find my below the shoulders length hair in a ponytail this morning. Over three decades ago, I had trouble putting my young daughter’s hair in a ponytail. I never mastered the process. So, how did I ever learn to this skill set? YouTube! If you’re ever bored, Google how to make a pony tail for men. What a challenge. What an ordeal. If you’re female, this is where you laugh.

Well, it’s time for morning writing. I’m working on the transcript and show notes for doing a video blog (vlog, video, whatever the correct term is). It will be on my YouTube channel and on jimmiekepler.com in the next few days. 

Houston Astros American League Champions

Congratulations to the Houston Astros Major League Baseball team for winning the American League Championship series. They will play in the MLB World Series vs the winner of the Atlanta Braves vs Ls Angels Dodgers who are playing in the National League Championship Series.

We Are the Lord’s

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15 We Are the Lord’s

15.1 My Story

I still recall the conversation. Rarely have I hated having such a talk. I am forever glad we had the conversation.

“Jimmie, we need to talk,” said Miss Benita. I glanced in her direction. While her natural smile and joyous attitude were on her face, it was the tangible seriousness in her voice that caught my attention.

I also realized we needed to talk, RIGHT NOW. Being married to the same person for over forty years helps you understand when she says we need to talk; she means we need to do it NOW.

I didn’t take time to get or doing anything. I gave my wife my complete attention.

“What’s on your mind,” I said as lovingly and supportive as I could. I wanted Miss Benita to know I had her complete attention and whatever was on her mind was the most critical thing in the world to me. If it was her concern, it was my concern.

“You know I am about to start the radiation treatment on the area of my head where the neurologist removed the brain tumor.”

I nodded.

“When the tumor recurs, and it will recur, don’t you go letting them cut on my head again. I don’t want any more surgeries. Them cutting on me isn’t going to save me. Jesus already saved me when I was a girl.”

“So you’re saying –” I started.

“I’m saying, love me enough to let me go. It’s going to be okay for me. I’ll be in heaven with Mama, Daddy, Willie, and Grandma before the hospice people get my time of death called in,” she said with a calm and peace of mind that can only come from God.

“Oh, okay,” I said suddenly choking out my words.

“Don’t go being selfish. Let me go to heaven. Love me enough to let me go. You and the children will be okay. I’ll be seeing you all again when you get to heaven. Even the kids that aren’t attending church or living for the Lord are going to be there. We trained them up the best we could, we shared Jesus with them, and even when they or you aren’t living for the Lord, you’re still saved. I know you know that. Like you, they each accepted Christ and knew what they were doing.”

I nodded.

Then she quoted from memory Romans 14:8 (KJV), “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”

I teared up.

She added, “Best I can figure, the Lord is leaving you here to write about Him and point others to Him. You need to keep writing religiously. Don’t go chasing any Stephen King or Ray Bradbury dreams of fame and fortune. If you honor God, he’ll honor you. You know that. You taught me that.”

I grabbed a Kleenex.

“The book of devotions you wrote to help me will help others. Write something for those people like you, the ones who are caregivers. You have as hard a job taking care of me and the household as I have being the terminally ill patient. Just keep pointing people to Jesus. We both know Jesus is the only hope anyone has. Now promise me you won’t let them cut on me anymore and that you’ll write to lead people to Jesus and help Christians grow in their faith.”

“I promise,” I said as I held her hand and then kissed the back of the hand to seal my pledge.

Eight weeks later the tumor recurred. At the recurrence, I was given two options. Option one was surgery which would extend life a couple of months at the most. Choice two was hospice.

“I need your decision on which option you will choose. I need it now. The operating room is available now and then not again for several days. Several days will be too late. What do you want to do?” asked the neurological surgeon.

Miss Benita’s word reverberated through my head, “Don’t go being selfish. Let me go to heaven. Love me enough to let me go.”

“No more surgery We chose hospice,” I said. And then I cried. Loving someone enough to let them die and go to heaven is hard.

15.2 We Are the Lord’s

Part of learning to care for a person with a chronic or terminal illness realizes we are the Lord’s. Today most people live for themselves and live for the moment. This lifestyle is different from how a Christian should live.

The purpose of the Christian life is to do the Lord’s will and promote his glory by our living example. Trying to model the Christian life doesn’t mean you cannot have fun. On the contrary, it allows you to have fun without regrets.

15.3 Bible Verse

Romans 14:8 (KJV), “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”

15.4 What the Verse Means

The purpose of the Christian life is to do the Lord’s will and promote his glory by our living example. A Christin should do this because they belong to God. Not only do we belong to God in this life but we belong to him even as we are dying and after we die.

The passage provides a reminder that the soul does not cease to be conscious at death. We are still the Lord’s.

Even when the body is in the grace, we are the Lords. 2 Corinthians 5:8 (KJV) reminds us, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

15.5 Pray Using Scripture

  • Heavenly Father if I live I live to the Lord. Help me live to the Lord. May you be glorified through my life.
  • Lord Jesus if I die, I die to the Lord. Help me to die to the Lord. Help me to remember that even in the grave I am yours.
  • I proclaim to the world whether I live or whether I die, I am the Lord’s. Thank you, Lord, for the security I have as a Believer in the Lord.

15.6 Responding to God’s Hope

  1. Are you living every day to point people to Jesus? If not, ask God through prayer to help you live for Jesus.
  2. Are you spending time reading God’s word? Remember, a regular time of reading the Bible will help you as a caregiver. It will strengthen and refresh you spiritually.
  3. Who do you know in your loved one’s circle of friends that need to know Christ as Savior? Begin praying for God to soften their heart.

Photo Source: Pixabay

This blog post is from the forthcoming book, “Caregiving: Biblical Insights from a Caregiver’s Journey” by Jimmie Kepler, Ed.D.

To receive a notification when “Caregiving: Biblical Insights from a Caregiver’s Journey” by Jimmie Kepler, Ed.D. is available and to get occasional updates on the writing of Jimmie Kepler please complete the “Email Sign-up”  found in the far left column of the blog.

 

Time

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8 Time

8.1 My Story

“How long …”

I asked the question doctors dread to hear. How long will my wife live? I spoke those words to the physician when my mother had her kidney transplant. I repeated the words when my wife had Melanoma surgery and had thirty-four lymph nodes removed because the disease had spread into them. Yes, I also said those two words when I took my ninety-years old father to the emergency room and found out he had suffered a major heart attack.

With my spouse, I remember the oncologist giving the five-year survival rate odds which were very depressing. She emphasized enjoying the now. She strongly emphasized if cancer recurred it would be terminal.

Less than six months later the Melanoma returned. My wife lived another two years and two months after the recurrence. She survived nearly two years longer than what we were told to expect.

I worked hard to make each day she lived a positive experience. I also took her on a multi-week “bucket list” trip where we had quality time together.

The trip was challenging as I had to get a refrigerator for our car for her prescription chemotherapy medications. Daily, I also had to pack and unpack a bulky lymphedema therapy machine. She had to sit for an hour every day hooked to the machine to control swelling in her left arm, wrist, and hand.

My point is we made good use of the time available. I made sure she saw her sisters multiple times. I made sure our grown children were engaged in her life.

God was gracious and gave her 1001 days from the first surgery. He also gave me the patience and desire to serve her.

The hope we both had through Jesus Christ allowed us to face each day with hope.

8.2 Use the Time God Has Given You

Part of learning to care for a person with a chronic illness is learning to use the time God has given to us. The Bible teaches that God has the days of our lives numbered. Here are five examples:

  1. Job 14:5 King James Version (KJV), “Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;”
  2. Job 21:21 (KJV), “For what does he care for his household after him, When the number of his months is cut off?
  3. Psalm 31:15 (KJV), “My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.”
  4. Psalm 139:16 (KJV), “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”
  5. Ecclesiastes 3:2 (KJV), “A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.”

8.3 Bible Verse

Psalm 39:4 (KJV), “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.”

8.4 What the Verse Means

The verse shares thoughts concerning the psalmist meditations on human life. He reflects on life’s brevity, life’s vanity, and life’s sorrows.

He wonders why life was so short. Why was it so vain? Why was it so full of pain?

8.5 Pray Using Scripture

  • Father in heaven, thank you for reminding me of how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to use the days I have to the fullest.
  • Lord Jesus, thank you for reminding me that my days are numbered. Help me to trust that you know what is best for me.
  • God, help me remember how fleeting my life is and to live my days to your honor and your glory.

8.6 Responding to God’s Hope

  1. 1. Are you helping your loved live their remaining days to the fullest? What can you do today to make today a good day for your loved one?
  2. 2. What can you do to encourage friends and family to engage with your chronically or terminally ill loved one?
  3. 3. Make sure you include rest in the management of your one’s time. What can you do today to make sure they take time to rest?

Photo Source: Pixabay

This blog post is from the forthcoming book, “Caregiving: Biblical Insights from a Caregiver’s Journey” by Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Ed.D.

To receive notification when “Caregiving: Biblical Insights from a Caregiver’s Journey” by Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Ed.D. is available and to get occasional updates on the writing of Jimmie Aaron Kepler please complete the “Email Sign-up”  ound in the far left column of the blog.