by Terri Wagner
When you live long enough in a place or pay attention, you begin to spot the warning signs of "something wicked this way comes." I've always loved the phrase and don't get to use it very often.
While my part of Alabama missed out on the terrible tornadoes, you could almost sense the danger in the weather. It starts here with a southernly wind that's filled with electricity (or so the scientists tell us) and ends with a bad storm somewhere...sometimes close, sometimes not so close. When I lived in Kansas, the warning signs for tornadoes was a bit different because there's rarely humidity in the air there.
There are warnings signs in our spiritual lives that can cause storms. Many times we look back and think I saw this coming, I just didn't realize it. And always we are told "if ye are prepared, ye need not fear."
And yes there are warning signs in writing. Ones we need to acknowledge and deal with appropriately. A character that suddenly goes in the wrong direction; a transistional scene that takes on a life of its own and changes the plot; a sudden unwilliness to write (fill in the blank here).
The Lord never gives us a princple that doesn't have eternal and sweeping aspects and angles. So it is with warnings. Pay attention to the change in the air, in the wind, in the book, in your testimony...as Sherlock so cleverly puts it "the game is afoot." It's our responsibility to be prepared to perhaps "go where no man has gone before."
I like your analogy, Terri. I have referred to that feeling of warning as my "impending doom" feeling...or my "waiting for the other shoe to drop" feeling. cliche, I know. but I am learning to pay attention. The other thing I am learning is that the warning is not meant to cause fear. The warning is just a wake up call to be ready. That's the part I struggle with the most, I think.
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