  Spiritual
This week: Edited by: Love is a Mommy (no foolin)  
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I am determined that my children shall be brought up in their father's religion, if they can find out what it is.
Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834)
Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason; they made no such demand upon those who wrote them.
Charles Caleb Colton (1780 - 1832), Lacon, 1820 |
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NaNoWriMo is coming soon!
Yes, yes, I know it’s in November, but according to nanowrimo.org, they are going to be bigger and better this year and they are even hiring their first full-time employee! Last year, I won it for the first time and participated for the third time. I can’t wait to do it again.
What all does this have to do with spirituality?
One of the most ignored plot-builders in modern novels is the inclusion of the character’s spiritual life. It doesn’t even have to be a ten-thousand word description of going to Temple, but simply letting the character’s personality and spiritual beliefs spill through in their relationships and interactions with the other characters.
During the months leading up to the start of NaNo, this is at least something to consider when building your character’s profiles.
 Remember: Any character building, plot outlining, and preparation are a-okay to write before November starts!
Also, this will open up plenty of room for conflict in your novel. As we all know, conflict eats up lots of word count and make stories really interesting and complex – the worst thing to do to a character is to say “yes, we’ll make this part easy for you.”
Religion and politics are the largest two dividers in modern culture and relationships. This creates a huge potential for relational dynamics and can even get your characters to hijack the story (which is exactly what you want to happen.) For the remainder of August, let’s start a list of questions about spirituality and beliefs that we’ll ask all our characters – the good guys and the bad guys, the girls and the boys, the elves and the trolls. Let’s see what friction is available and learn even more about their personalities, motives, inner demons, childhood traumas, and quirks before November even gets here.
Here are a few rules:
 Keep the questions very general so that they can work with any book genre.
Keep the questions gender neutral.
Take the questions from real life so that they will be believable.
Write in with them in the comment section below so that we can all enjoy and use them! Next month I’ll send out a link to a static item with them listed.
I’ll start us off with a few:
 Does this character believe that people bring suffering on themselves?
Does this character insist that their belief is the only truth?
Does this character look to learn other beliefs?
Is this character introspective?
Does this character deny themselves things that are tempting so that they can reach a higher spiritual plain?
Does this character treasure material things? (Not just big material things – but small ones too, like books or photos.) What do these materials represent?
What happened to this character in childhood to shape their beliefs?
I know you have more – send them in! And don’t forget to review the pieces below.
Until next month, take care of yourselves ~
Love is a Mommy (no foolin)
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Everyone, thank you from the bottom of my heart for the comments! The furbabies Ernie, Spooky, Abigail and Calista thank you as well. 
From dogfreek21
Yes Yes Yes!
I read this snippet of a book-thing, that actually showed with the Bible that animals most likely will go to heaven!
I love doggies, and I want them to be there! LOL!
DF
From cnoto
Thank you for including my poem in your exceptionally loving newsletter this month. I appreciated seeing Joan's name there, having her there in front of me, even for a brief moment. You said, "I don't think anything really dies - energy never goes away, it simply changes and moves on." and I must agree with you.
From schipperke
It is strange, but this topic was one my husband and I were just discussing. We love our animals, and can't imagine the afterlife won't include them. I think they will be reunited with us somehow. Thank you for this newsletter.
From salliemoffitt
I agree that animals will be with us in the afterlife.
I always think of the joke about the dead man who is walking toward the gates of Heaven with his dog. He comes to the gate, but they won't let him in with his dog. He refuses to enter, choosing life with his dog over an eternity in Heaven. He continues to the next gate and is allowed in with his dog. He then finds out the first gate was hell because God would never separate a man from his dog.
From Puditat 
Awww, Love. What a beautiful editorial. It made me tear as I pictured Ernie comforting you and your sister. I agree with you about animals. I think God has a place for them, with us, at the end of this earthly life. There are some theories that we will be doing similar tasks in heaven to what we do on earth (I don't know if this is right or not), but if so, what would all the zookeepers and farmers do? Herd angels, bale out hay to the musicians??? 
My cat who passed away last year was like Ernie. She always knew when I was not happy and stuck to my like glue in those times.
Hugs,
Puditat
From Come Fly with Me--Kiter
I have loved many animals too. And I felt their kinship and love.
Romans 8:19-21 says that the whole creation is waiting for the redemption to be completed, and that it suffers frustration over the schism caused by Satan's attack. Does that mean animals will populate heaven? Maybe. I know there will be horses because Jesus and the saints will ride them. Why not a good dog?
From shaun72
Good story sad but good. Well written little story about the passing away of a favorite animal. I have cried many or times over this because I became attached fast
From Pen Name
Dear Love,
Your editorial, "All Dogs Go To Heaven?" touched my heart. Ernie is a treasure and one of God's angels. I have two cats, a tortoiseshell named Joplin and a Siamese named Ming. My girls are my best friends and give me laughter and love every day. I, like your sister Amber, am pregnant. I nap every day, and I say to Ming, "Nap-nap!" She runs upstairs and stays with me as long as I need to crash. When I wake up then or in the morning, she greets me with her sweet face and good morning rubs and cries. I don't know how I could survive without my girls.
I know at least these companion animals such as Ernie and Ming have souls and we will see them in Heaven.
Sincerely,
Lotusneko
From Natural Spring
That was an awesome story. Thank you for sharing!
From maylee
I know that animals have souls. How could they not? God created them!
From werden 
I happen to agree. Of course there is no scriptural basis but I think there are animals in heaven. They don't sin so why wouldn't they be there?
And with that, Spooky just peed on the carpet which makes me wonder what the nature of sin really is and if animals really can sin... maybe a newsletter for next month? |
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Spiritual: August 16, 2006 Issue [#1210]
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