by Jennifer Haynie @JenniferHaynie1

This is the final post in my blog series related to Operation Music Man. I’ve enjoyed sharing more about the characters by speaking through them. When I talk to people about writing, they always ask about the characters, but they also ask about the themes of the book. When I do I develop them?

For the Last Chance series, I use one of the Beattitudes from Matthew 5 as my starting point for a theme. For this one, it was Matthew 5:3 which reads in the NIV as “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This was theme I wanted to explore more. Sana Jain was no stranger to the depth of her sin in her rebellious past. Thing is, she seemed to forget about the depths of Christ’s forgiveness of those sins.

Don’t we do that a lot? If we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can still have that tendency to live as spiritual orphans instead of someone who is loved immeasurably deeply by the God of creation.

Also—most of the time—themes emerge organically as I write the book. Here are a few other themes.

Freedom comes at a cost. For Morgan, her freedom came at the cost of experiencing one of the worst situations a teenager can ever face, that of being trapped in a brothel. For Jaidon, Morgan’s freedom cost him his own. For Victor, her freedom came at the cost of very nearly losing his team. And let’s not forget Sana. Freeing Morgan cost her many things, like losing any relationships with her family, but she also gained freedom from her past.

Forgiveness comes in many forms. Sana had to learn to forgive her father. And also herself for her past experiences, even when she blamed herself for things over which she had no control.

There’s family of choice and family of origin. Sana’s family of origin left much to be desired. Yet she’d found a family of choice, a place of belonging through her friends at Last Chance Ranch who would lay down their lives to save her.

Love bonds. This shows up in many places like Victor’s love for his goddaughter, Suleiman’s love for Sana, Narat’s love for his sister, and even Jaidon’s love for his own Elsbeth. Each character, including Jaidon, loved someone dearly. It goes to show that no matter how often someone like Jaidon can be, love can still exist.

Those are some of the themes that emerge. Dig deeper and there may be more. That’s the beauty of themes. Each reader is unique, and each reader may pull out different themes.

I hope you enjoyed Operation Music Man or plan to read it. I promise you too will find different themes that resonate with you.

Question: What themes did you discover in Operation Music Man?