Getting Back to Writing

I’ve gotten away from writing over the last two years.

Perhaps I was too exhausted to write. Perhaps I was too worn down by the demands of leadership. Whatever might have been the case, I have realized, lately, how much I have ignored a key part of who I am for the past year. I’ve missed the written word.

I’ve been a writer most of my life. There is something beautiful about being able to turn a phrase to discuss what is taking place in the world. To put a comma in a unique place in a sentence in order to give more force to a thought. To describe in vivid detail the reactions of a soul walking through challenging times.

I’ve missed writing and the ability it provides to communicate a thought. Even in our visual world, the written word calls up the senses and imagination in ways that a video cannot fully engage.

I’ve missed writing.

I miss describing the theological implications of current events in a way that is not defined by partisanship, but a desire to hear from God in the midst of the time.

I miss reflecting upon how God calls us to imagine the possibilities before us.

I miss sharing a look at what it is really like to be a pastor in our time today.

So, if I miss these things why did I ever walk away from writing on a regular basis? It’s a good question, and one not easily answered even as I offered some suggestions at the beginning of the essay.

But, isn’t that the joy of writing. It leaves us to ponder new questions, new possibilities, and forces us to think about who we are and what kind of person we seek to be.

My hope in the coming year is to resume a practice that had defined my ministry up until recently. That is to write an essay of some sort each Wednesday on life, theology, or where God might be found in the midst of the moments of our day. I look forward to resuming that practice.

I look forward, even more, to getting back to my love of writing.