“For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 14:11 KJV
(Read Luke 14:7-11.)
This passage often comes to mind when writing about the Regency. The notion of sitting at the lowest place, of abasing oneself in society is an anathema to what we show amongst the peoples of the Regency. Getting the highest honors, marrying the highest ranked man or the richest heiress was what the world was all about, or at least what the world we portray was all about. And yet we write Christian Regencies, which means our characters must have a Christian world view while living in a society that insisted upon promoting one’s social standing and/or wealth—politely, of course. On the one hand, they are not supposed to raise themselves up if they are to be serious followers of Christ. On the other hand, they cannot move through the halls and balls of even the gentry without looking, acting, and simply being the best in an attempt to attract the best.
Rhubarb Restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland allows you to dine regency style today. Seated here, even the lowest place at the table is grand.
As I write my characters, I struggle with this dichotomy for them. And then I think how apropos to today’s society are the struggles of my characters.
Nowadays, everything is about networking. To network, we need to promote and promote and then, for a change, promote some more. Get our names out there for the world to see, recognize, respond to, we’re told. Editors won’t buy books from authors who don’t already have a web presence, etc., etc., etc.
Networking Around the World
Hubris is the word that comes to mind. Extreme pride or arrogance. It’s practically de rigueur for a Regency hero to be that way. Yet how can we have an arrogant hero who is a Christian? How can we as Christians be prideful of our work enough to tell people they should select ours above all others?
I’d like to know the thoughts of others on this subject, as it is something with which I struggle for my characters of my books and within my own character. My conclusion is to put others first, uphold others, place them at the head of the table, and let God take care of the rest.
I struggled with the idea of humility for a long time. While God calls us to be humble, He does not want us to put ourselves down. We were created in His image, gifted with His wonderful talents and spiritual gifts, and lifted up as the worldly example of His love. If we hide in the corner or put ourselves down, we are saying that God is wrong. That He shouldn’t have come to Earth to provide a way for us to have a relationship with Him.
I think you got it right in that true humility is that we work on lifting others and encouraging others. I think of it as helping people up a ladder. If you stay at the bottom of the ladder, you aren’t much help to people. As you continually push and pull others up the ladder, you will naturally climb it yourself. The focus shouldn’t be on ourselves. I think THAT is the key to having well-positioned, sometimes even arrogant Christian characters. If their focus is on something other than themselves, they are still exhibiting that essence of humility.
For me it comes down to helping the person behind me get to the next step. There’s someone I’m praying about reaching out to, to help her climb the ladder. My CP did that for me and it’s been an amazing ride that’s turned into a friendship we both treasure.
It’s not about what I can take from others. It’s what I can give back to those who have given to me, and to the people on the ladder beneath me.
I hope when I promote my books it’s with the right motives. Otherwise the Holy Spirit will probably give me a thump on the head. I don’t think that making sure as many people as possible know my books are available is necessarily offensive to the Spirit. If I said, “Hey, readers, these medieval-set books are Better than Regencies!” that might offend, and I hope I would never fall into enough hubris to do that. Like the rest of us, I write to gently suggest that the Lord is closer than He sometimes appears. If I whisper “Listen to Him” to my readers, then I think I’ve done my job.