We must exchange whispers with God before shouts with the world.
Lysa TerKeurst
How do you prepare to write?
Light a candle?
Cradle a cup of coffee and wait for inspiration to strike?
The more I write, the more I go out and speak, the more I interact with people in workshops, the more I realise that without divine silence and divine interaction, my words are like a ‘clanging cymbal’
The space where faith, prayers, and pen on page converge is a divine interaction, a divine dance.
There’s so much noise in the world. There are so many of us writing and promoting ourselves on social media and we contribute to the noise. In order to promote our work, we often seem to be shouting about it to the world. But, if we hear the whisper of God, if we listen to it, if we sit in stillness and whisper to God about our work, we will find that it is not necessary to shout.
Our work–including our social media interactions–will flow out of the secret place, out of the silent place, out of the sacred place of our meditations.
I think it’s easy to tell when we are forcing something. Our words seem clunky. They don’t flow. We feel like we have to push our point of view.
However, if we’ve shared whispers with God, participated in divine interaction, our work will flow with freedom, grace, and love.
I’ve found over the years, that trying to follow a formula, trying to fit into a genre’s expectations, or feeling pressured to conform to a peer’s expectations doesn’t work.
If I listen to the whisper of God, He leads me and encourages me to find my own voice, my unique perspective.
Sometimes, He leads me to be countercultural or to question things. Sometimes He leads me to be silent. Sometimes He gives me something to say.
When I whisper to God about my work, I find my writing goes to places I never dreamed of and takes my soul into new territory.
My friend, Jodie McCarthy wrote a poem last year that speaks of this divine interaction.
Blessings to you all as you sit, read, and write in your sacred, whispering space.
Elaine
As you sit,
pen in hand,
the blank page of promise before you.
May inspiration arise within.
May words flow strong and true,
dripping from your pen like dewdrops.
May you shake off the doubts,
and comparisons that assail from all sides.
Discarding them like an unwanted coat.
May you dilute the poison of perfectionism.
Standing strong in the truth of your calling,
and honestly owning your voice.
May your words
be a divine interaction
giving life,
hope,
joy,
and peace.
Amen
Thanks so much, Elaine--and thank you to your friend Jodie too--for this wise reminder to ground our work in those whispers of God. I particularly loved your line 'if we’ve shared whispers with God, participated in divine interaction, our work will flow with freedom, grace, and love.' Yes, there will still be lots of hard work on our part, but behind it all, there will be that 'God flow' that is irreplaceable.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Jo-Anne. Xx
DeleteThank you, Elaine. I think my best writing feels like prayer. You feel his presence and you are on a roll. But sometimes in my faith life I’ve experienced the ‘dark night of the soul’. Where God feels distant and you cannot connect. Sometimes writing leads me back to that sense of intimacy. God never leaves us but our perception of him can change. It’s a wonderful thing to co-create with our Heavenly Father.
ReplyDeleteI love that idea of writing like a prayer.
DeleteJust beautiful, Elaine. Thank you. There is such good wisdom in this post. I hope you don't mind if I add it to the social media noise.
ReplyDeleteBless,
Thanks so much, Ian. Feel free to add it to the noise!
DeleteI appreciate your beautiful soul, dear Elaine.
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear Rita. It’s mutual admiration here. Xx
DeleteAmen! Thanks for reminding us of what is most important ❤️
ReplyDeleteThanks Carolyn. 😀
DeleteThat's a beautiful poem, and inspiring thoughts. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteJodie is pretty clever!
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