Holy Ambition Begins at Home

The useful part

Following in the footsteps of Lewis and Tolkien, I want to craft tales that act as signposts to the triune God. Often my ambition to write for God's glory and my calling as a father seem to pull in opposite directions. I once explained to a wise friend my frustration that parenting felt like an anchor, hindering my efforts to champion truth through fiction.

How it works

• Father of young children, do you ever feel a tension between kingdom work within the home and outside it?
• I'll never forget what he said: "Your children are the most important stories you're writing.
• Build your home faithfully so you can fight with your home joyfully, trusting the sovereign Homemaker.
• Build Your Home Faithfully Psalm 127 presents God's vision for domestic ambition.
• It begins, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain" (verse 1).

What to take from it

His counsel echoes the central thrust of Psalm 127:

Details worth keeping

I have an ambition: I want to write good stories that change the world. I want to fight against the darkness with fables of light. They are your best weapons." Without dousing my fire for writing, he challenged me to consider whether my ambitions outside the home were really at odds with those in it — and whether the distracting lions might play a necessary role in my godly writing.