WHY? (not by the Accents)

So let's give this a crack.  Sitting here not feeling "inspired" to write like I have been know to feel when blogs used to fly off my fingers. Last post ended with something about now that I have the WHY of writing let's get on with it.  But hold up kimosabe, hold up.  I would like to develop this all a bit more.  Specifically, to get more clarity, punch, succinctness around this concept of writing as Edenic, writing as naming things, writing as taking a raw, undefined lump of clay and letting the statue come out of the mass (there is a quote about this out there somewhere).


As I learn and practice slowing down in order to see the graces and give the thanks, I am more aware of ignoring a lot of "passing" thoughts. Assorted unnamed fears, fledgling observations and vague concepts are simply left by the roadside as I speed along happily multi-tasking.  Writing absolutely doesn't allow such aimless, mad speeding.  Choosing words that describe foggy thoughts is intentional as intentional can be.  Writing is the parachute that pops open on the pointless dragster and beckons one to get close in and clip on the macro lens.  Gosh, even the title of my blog is in opposition to such methodicalness.  Just a quick flyby is hardly going to nail down any nebulousness.  Nope, need to drop down onto the forest floor and sort through those acorns and pine cones in order to develop a canadian-water-clear thought.


So naming things is Edenic. And it is part of subduing the earth which is a mandate I continue to share as a son of Abba.  OK, got that.  And writing is a process of 'naming'  things...at least describing them, articulating the parts and pieces of concepts in the effort to make them understandable, communicable and life-giving.  If this is in fact true, if I am not taking too much license in applying 'naming' things to writing, then I get very excited about writing because it takes on a purpose that is part of my Kingdom job description and therefore worthwhile to do and spend time on.  It is not just some frivolous, narcissistic form of mental masturbation. It is authorized from above, it honors God my creator, it fulfills at least a portion of my calling as an eternal citizen and a member of the royal priesthood of believers.  I am authorized, I have a delegated authority to subdue confusion, to bring clarity, to replace mushy, ill-conceived, harmful notions and to identify all lies, root and renounce them out and to install truth in their place.  That is a glorious undertaking, is it not?  Come on, look at this!  If this is true then I have a mission to bring this part of the gospel into all I do and writing is at least one of the ways to promote such restoration in this fallen world as it courses it's way towards freedom and full redemption.

Phew! That felt good to say!!  Father, am I barking up an OK tree here?  Am I smelling what you are cooking correctly?  I am humbled by the recollection of how easily I can be misled or self-deluded but I refuse to just stay in my cell as a compliant prisoner of my own making.  I have heard myself say and I have felt hungry for more "transformation".  Well bunky, I believe that these thoughts about writing are involved with that process as a discipline, a tool to bring healed, restored thought and definition to what has been previously put out of joint, mangled and made ineffective.  Gosh, that elevates writing to a holy act, at least when submitted to God, an opportunity for me to act as an heir of God and Christ. "To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." (R8,6)

And whom, might I ask,  is this writing intended for?  Are you suggesting the world is breathlessly on standby as it awaits these pearls of truth that dribble out this blog spigot?  Au contraire tater salad , au contraire.  The only person's transformation that  I can ultimately participate in to any significant extent is my own.  My writing is not to be geared for any segment of the outside. I am both the preacher and the congregation and I believe that if I keep that in mind, write honestly, with no aspirations or yearnings for broader audiences, then I should be just fine.  Being intentional is asking God to transform me, writing in and around personal subluxations is very much a part of subduing this world one member at a time.

So for future posts, it seems appropriate to name things (write) in those categories of life that cause me to regularly limp.  Exploring the forest floor of fear, anxiety, being hard on myself, selfishness are all possibilities.  A search and destroy mission against the most un-transformed Santiago bits.  I suggest we just let this all sit in the pot on simmer until our next visit.  We can check back in on it then, take a taste and see if time away brings sense or not to the above discussion.  Until then.....empty to fill. And continued thanks to Ann Voskamp!