I’m a woman with a lot of education. My parents spent plenty
of money supporting me in boarding school and through college. I went on to get
a Masters as well. What do I have to show for it? By some measures, not much. I
currently make just enough money to cover the cost of child care while I am
working.  Last year, I operated at
a loss. So why do this? Why keep writing when it doesn’t pay the bills and it
takes me away from our children? Why keep writing when I could get a part-time
job with better pay? Why keep writing when I could give away more time and/or
money if I were doing something else?

I love it, but there are other things I love. People seem to
benefit from it, but people would benefit from other things I could do. Really,
I write because I believe God has called me to do so.

And when I read Mark 14:1-9, I take heart. In this passage, a woman pours incredibly expensive perfume upon Jesus’ feet. The disciples can’t believe it. “Why this waste of perfume?” They see her gesture in utilitarian terms. The perfume is worth a year’s wages. Shouldn’t it have been put to better use? Shouldn’t it have been donated to the poor? What was she thinking? What was Jesus thinking?

But Jesus commends the woman for her gift to him:

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.  She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Christians should follow Jesus in caring deeply about the poor. And yet Jesus also commends acts of worship, “wasteful” acts that are nonetheless, in Jesus’ words, “beautiful.” Her action is a work of art. Her action is a recognition of Jesus’ worth. And Jesus’ approval of it is his approval of each of us as we understand our calling and pour ourselves out at his feet.

As painter Makoto Fujimura reflects in his Letter to Young Artists, “Strict moralism has never produced great art. Like Mary’s expensive oil, our expression flows out as a response to grace in our lives…”

And so I will continue to write, as an act of faith, as an act of worship, and, I hope, as a response to the grace of God in my life, a response that makes the world more beautiful.