How do you write? Is it hard for you to compose an essay, paper, or blog? For me, it can depend upon the subject I’m writing about and the audience it’s for. I suspect this is true for most people. With term, public, and professional documents I’m the type that it takes a whole day to write the first page. I sit and ponder about a clean outline, a catchy and intriguing intro, and smooth transitions. Often as I’m focusing on getting these started other ideas that I want to incorporate into the text come to mind. Wanting to stay on task I push these thoughts aside and generally they become forgotten. When I write e-mails or letters to friends, my writing approach is much different. I just let my thoughts flow and then when I’m finished I spell check and read it over to make sure it makes sense. This way of writing is much more personal, less stressful, and free to make grammatical mistakes. There is a time and place for both of these styles of writing…
Now how do you view your spiritual life? Is it hard for you to hear God’s voice? Are you trapped in focusing on all the things that you feel our faith says you should and shouldn’t do? Our God wants to have a relationship with us in a personal matter, like letters and e-mails, not in the professional manor filled with rules and regulations. How do you write to our Father in Heaven? Do you over think it sometimes shunning supporting foundations to our faith and ultimately limiting the ways in which our God communicates with us? Do you ever just stop, be still, listen and flow with the Holy Spirit? Imagine what great things the Holy Spirit will reveal to us and how amazing it would be to develop a closer relationship with our creator! When it comes to our faith, our relationship with Christ, it is not the time or place to be writing term papers.
In training a good day or more was devoted to understanding and tackling our Spiritual Formation. Our formation is either a bounded set or a centered set. The bounded set is much like the professional documents based on how correct and perfect you can be, it’s image focused. The centered set is more freeing like the e-mails and letters, but even more than that they are based on biblical truth and grace. I don’t know if any of us are fully in the centered set formation, I hope and pray we can be. Since middle school my pastor confronted me with how much I was law focused, since then I have been fighting, having small victories, to overcome this bounded set mentality. God’s grace is always enough!
“My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9
