To Write

"...for we walk by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7

I don’t have a blog topic for this week… I don’t have anything to write about… No big inspiration. No big ideas... I guess you could call it writer’s block, but it is probably more that I have been too busy to give it much thought.

Before I blog, I usually will pray for guidance as to what I should write, who my audience is and the “so what, who cares” of the post (in other words, the point). I often get a vague idea. Sometimes I get big ideas, and occasionally, I will get fully formed ideas that I just have to transcribe into my computer (See my blog posts Three Women in Heaven and Sunday School for examples of those.) But this week… Nothing. Nada. Zip.

I have a bunch of rough-starts in my Google Docs. Ideas that I think will make good blog posts for the future. Some are just an outline of an idea, some are bits and pieces, others are pages waiting for revision or fine-tuning. This week, however, none of those starts seemed to be the right subject for the day.

However, my routine fails. I ask God to direct my words. I get fragmented ideas… Write about the book of Ruth. Write about a challenging friend. Write about how everybody struggles. Write about bacon… Who doesn’t love bacon? But none of these feel right.

So, I do what the “experts” say to do. They say when a writer can’t write, that they should sit down and write. Imagine that transferred to another hobby or skill set. The baker who can’t bake should bake. The student who can’t learn should learn. The ballerina that can’t dance should dance. It doesn’t translate. But for writing it is canon: The writer who can’t write should just write.

Putting it another way: The writer who can’t write should actually get the heck out of their own way. To write is to put thoughts together in a cohesive way; to make words touch or inform or entertain. Writers get in their own way by censoring themselves before the words get on the page. We doubt the direction and meaning and the interpretation of our offering before it leaves our fingertips.

Words twist themselves in the mind and betray meaning. But the writer writes them anyway, tracing their serpentine rhythm until it congeals into a work that is worth putting before the audience; worth saying “it is the best I can give.” “It is the best you will get.”

Write. I decide. Just write. My fingers fly over the keyboard and I try to turn off my mind. Each word escaping before they can be realized, before they can be stopped by a process that is only hindered by edit. I can’t help but come up short… What is the meaning? What is the purpose? I truly ask “So what?” “Who cares?” and my mind whips around to face the page with a metaphor:

To write is to expose the marrow of oneself without regard for the process of it being exposed.

To write is to trust.

How often do we come up short because of our lack of trust. We reach a precipice only to step away from the void because we cannot fall into the abyss of the unknown. There is no trust. We stumble backward into the discomfort of comfortable complacency. We choose the devil we know over the devil we don’t. Our tip-toes touched the brink of a new unexplored endeavor only to betray us… because they cannot trust.

The Bible tells us that we must walk by faith and not by sight. The fragile ego wants nothing more than to shroud itself in the cocoon of what is known. The Holy Spirit wants us to soar on eagles wings. We can't have it both ways. We can’t take a leap of faith and keep our feet firmly planted on the ground. We can’t post a blog post and not write it first. To write, I must write. To soar, we must soar. There is no middle ground, no safe cocoon.

Every action that requires trust is like the writer’s blank page. It can become anything. It can become a comedy or a romance, a mystery or a thriller… But without the click-clack of the keyboard or the scratching of a pencil on paper, it will be nothing.

Trust the process. Take the leap. Write the post (as long as it is kind). Heal the relationship. Do the work. It’s worth it. You won’t regret it…

And when you’re through, go make yourself some bacon because… who doesn’t love bacon?