Taglines, Pain and Your Heart

"If something inside you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Don't worry about appearing sentimental. Worry about being unavailable; worry about being absent or fraudulent. Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If you're a writer you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act–truth is always subversive."—Anne Lamott

Why Do I Write?

By Scoti Springfield Domeij

I'm in the process of developing my website, which means digging my value statements and tagline out of my heart.

Not an easy task.

It makes me vulnerable as a person, a writer and most important spiritually. Right now, I'm leaning towards this tagline: Cruciformity—Reality Unblurred

What Does Cruciformity Mean to Me?

It is how my spiritual story propelled me towards an awe-filled, dynamic relationship with God. My shame and pain constantly intersects with the divine story of the cross. Like Jesus' crucifixion, I felt crucified by religionists. Betrayal and abandonment inflicted intense pain—suffering that seemingly destroyed my hopes, dreams and reputation—yet, ultimately infused life into the passion God placed into my heart. Those shocking events revealed God's character, providing the example of how he desires life to be lived marked by faith, love, power, and hope.

The searing agony I've experienced stripped away idealism that too often blurred reality. For a while, I slogged through the valley of disillusionment and loss of faith in Christ. How do you reframe events and people who did not care if they hurt you? In fact, that was their point—to inflict pain.

Reality unblurred comprehends the meaning of a verse that's often tritely spit upon someone emotionally unable to grasp its meaning, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. God can use all things for his glory," Romans 8:28 (NASB). I don't claim that I understand everything this verse conveys, but I know God uses my pain to understand and comfort other fellow strugglers who've lost all hope. The scar tissue of my heart also alerts me when I need to pray for others careworn by betrayal and robbed of security and personal identity.

My writing often takes me places I'd prefer not to go. So why do I write? Because I can't not pursue the passion God put in my heart. I know what he's given, when I had nothing to give. I know how he's provided, when I had zip, zilch. When I feel discouraged and wonder why I write, Anne Lamott's words remind me to be faithful to the tagline of my heart, "You are going to have to give and give and give and give, or there's no reason for you to be writing. You have to give from the deepest part of yourself, and you are going to have to go on giving, and the giving is going to have to be its own reward. There is no cosmic importance to your getting something published, but there is in learning to be a giver."

What painful realities impassion your writing? That's maybe the core from which your tagline will emerge.