we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. – Colossians 1:9-10
- God does not limit God’s creative input to specifically “churchy” endeavors. Creativity, and imagination, and devotion all belong in every task we engage as God’s children. Teaching, housework, cooking, church life, business meetings, playing, sales, driving, grocery shopping, friendship, engineering, volunteer work, vacations…. (even – especially – responding to a stunning tragedy such as the horrific church killings in Charleston yesterday evening)…
A few days ago a Facebook group I’m associated with posed the following question: “How do you deal with writer’s block?” Well it turns out I’m there this morning, so I went back to see what advice I had offered.
- I just write. I write about experiencing writers block. Something as dumb sounding as “I can’t believe I can’t write…” The fact that what I’m writing is 100% percent authentic seems to help me engage the process.then I just take it from there.
SO WHY WRITE? This begs the question, “If you don’t have anything to say today, Derek, then why write?” That sounds reasonable, but the implication suggests that the content is already there (or not there), prepackaged and ready to go, and all writing amounts to is putting it onto the page.
But for me the writing process is also the formulation process. In other words, what I’m doing at this instant, sitting at this keyboard, is actually a key element of the creative impetus. Not only creation, but the root imaginative content process too. My brain, my soul, and – by extension – my hands and the keyboard, all work together as a collective incubator where original thought is created and experienced.
This is the huge “why” of my writing. It is the process where I literally give birth to new ideas. It’s where I “think out loud,” and where the Holy Spirit works in partnership with me to shed light and understanding on my day-to-day practical theology. And remember, the word theology literally means “God-thought.”
INVITATION: What’s going on this morning is a reminder from God to me (and by extension, to you) that there is nothing we turn our hands to that would not benefit from the creative presence of God’s Holy Spirit.
God does not limit God’s creative input to specifically “churchy” endeavors. Creativity, and imagination, and devotion all belong in every task we engage as God’s children. Teaching, housework, cooking, church life, business meetings, playing, sales, driving, grocery shopping, friendship, engineering, volunteer work, vacations…. (even – especially – responding to a stunning tragedy such as the horrific church killings in Charleston yesterday evening).
You name it, God wants to be invited in. Then, the divine presence can quicken the latent giftedness we were created both to enjoy and to share with the world.
Everything. Each moment. Here at this keyboard. There at your job. Without exception.
– DEREK
love this!
God reasons with me as I write. It is one of the major ways that I communicate with Him and it is two-way communication. I don’t hear voices but you know what I mean. I gain a deeper understanding of Who God is when I write about Him and what He is doing in my life. I really relate to this post. It also, brought to mind all of the tedious chores that I’ve gotten through by making them art. Because of that choice, my entire house is a work of art, right down to making the bed and cleaning the bathtub!:0)
I agree! I try to write every day even if I don’t have anything to write about. I usually just write prayers even about the most mundane things–whatever I could think of. I just let the words flow, let the Holy Spirit guide my hands on what to write. It feel great and starting my days like this help me through the rest of it.