Finding Time to Write... Finding Time for Christ

FINDING TIME TO WRITE... FINDING TIME FOR CHRIST
Writing as Part of a Balanced Walk With Christ

So much happens in our world it's hard to keep things healthy and in perspective…

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FINDING TIME TO WRITE... FINDING TIME FOR CHRIST

In June of 2008, I made a big life shift. After over a decade in the same studio apartment, I moved to a new one bedroom place. Work schedules were disrupted. Things I knew how to easily find, such as my journals, wound up packed away in boxes I didn't get to for a while. Now everyday life doesn't always get quite so chaotic for most people (and I pray it isn't so for you), but this is a radical example of how things don't always stay on a same even course. For some people this can be very challenging as they do things best on a schedule, or other people just prefer to set aside some regular time to write - but the outside world often gets in the way. People also need to set aside regular time to be with Christ, whether through prayer or immersing themselves in the Word of the Bible. This can then, for some writers, lead to the dilemma of setting aside two blocks of time in a day.

Depending on what you write, the spiritual journal may be one solution to maximize and build on both your Christ and writing time. This solution is best for those whose personal writing topics lean toward autobiography, memoir, and Christian exploration. Converse with Him on paper instead of spoken prayer for part of your time, and see what deeper topics it triggers to write about. Though Christ knows all, sharing things with Him in this way may help you see them in a new light. This works less as a time management solution for the creative writer, but doing something similar in your personal time with Christ that help in discovering topics to explore in other types of writing that interest you depending on what you express to Christ about the world in which you live.

Christian creative writers have an additional struggle in that they need to manage more time each day. While these type of writers grow stronger in their faith through their subject matter, it does not substitute for taking time for a direct and personal walk with Christ. If you are one of these types of writers, you may need to focus a bit more than others might on Christ as your form of stress and life management in order to manage your time. Ideas may spring from your personal time with Christ that later blossom into stories, poem, and song!

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES TO CHALLENGE YOU:

1) Take a look at Matthew 29. Christ bids us to come to Him in our busy lives not only for rest but to learn from him. How do you feel you can best learn by spending more time with Christ?

2) Look at Phillipians 4:11. Paul wrote this book of the Bible as part of a house arrest imprisonment, and yet expresses that he is "content" with his situation. As a Christian writer, what steps can you take to become more content with your own circumstances?

3) Examine Proverbs 16:9. What guidance does it provide for planning our lives as writers and as Christians?

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SERMON COMPANIONS

Sermons at Wilshire Avenue Community Church are available on CD or cassette and can be ordered at the table in the main entry (narthex). CREATIVE WORDS TO SPREAD THE WORD suggests this sermon to order and listen to with the exercises in this booklet:

"Lightening the Load"
07/06/08
Pastor Kirk Mackie
Matthew 11:28-30

Writing is just one of the many things that fill our busy world. Pastor Kirk takes a look at how to make Christ the center of that busy world and look to Him to address stress management.


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CREATIVE WORDS TO SPREAD THE WORD

Coordinator: Shannon Muir
email: creativewordstospreadtheword@gmail.com

BROCHURE #8
Last revised: July 2008

Brochure text by
Shannon Muir
Original Artwork on Printed Version by
Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

[The above is a modified Internet transcription of the text of a print brochure originally released by Creative The Words to Spread the Word. This transcription released by Creative Words to Spread the Word. All rights reserved.]