Sometimes writing feels like pushing a 10,000-pound steel ball up a hill.
In those moments, there’s nothing in me that wants to write. The annoying cursor flashes at me with persistent regularity as if it is badgering me to do something I’d rather not. My fingers feel as limp as spaghetti noodles. My back is hunched over as if I’m being pried open like a stubborn clam. My mind feels like a fishbowl too full of ideas swimming around. It is not usually a lack of ideas that cause this feeling, but rather an overwhelming amount of things that I can and should get on paper but I am not sure how to get them out.
What do I do when this happens?
I write.
Yep. There is no way around it. I force my self to sit and press one key after the next and get it out.
I never thought of my self as a writer. It wasn’t until I realized that the majority of what I do is writing that it finally dawned on me—I am a writer. I have to accept all the glory and all the drudgery that goes with that role.
There are a lot of people who say they are writers or authors, but they don’t actually write. Forget about them and don’t be like them. You are a writer if you write, so write. No matter what you feel. Just write.
Writers write.
Tim Challies said it well, “You can’t call yourself a writer if you are skilled with a pen but never pick it up. You can’t call yourself a writer if you love to write but don’t ever sit down and actually bang out some words. You can’t call yourself a writer if you have a deep longing to write but nothing to show for it. You can’t call yourself a writer unless you write. Because writers write.”
But there is one thing I must say—I don’t just write for writing sake; I am a writer who writes for the King of Kings. That is drastically different than just writing for sake of getting to a word count, publishing a novel or trying to concoct a best-seller. As a scribe for the King, I communicate His thoughts to His people.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not writing the Bible here. I am fallible. I am errant. But I am inspired by a divine source. Though I would never claim to be “Carried along by the Holy Spirit” in the same way the Prophets or Apostles were, I am carried by Him to execute a task; I am empowered by Him to write boldly; I am called by Him for a purpose; I am promised His presence with every keystroke.
So writers write, even when they don’t feel like it.
But writers for the King of Kings write when they don’t feel like it because that is the call and the command of the King.
I serve at His pleasure, not my own. Even in the moments when it is not pleasurable for me, I pray that my King will see my discipline to sit and open the computer as an act of worship. I would do anything for Him because He has done everything for me.
So with weak fingers, a weak mind and a cramped back, I am now going to return to my worship and trust my God to move me along as the words flow out.
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