A WRITING SABBATH

Do you take a Sabbath from your writing. I recommend it, if you can. I say, if you can, because many of you write while maintaining a real job. And you won't write much if don't write in every free moment you can muster.

But after retiring from active pastoring, I began trying to write full-time. At that point, God was convicting me of not taking days off, or taking time for spiritual and physical renewal in my 45 or so years as a pastor. So I begin full-time writing with a Sabbath. I don't write or work on my writing from Friday evening to Saturday evening. And I have found it rewarding in a number of ways.

First, I have not had to deal with burn-out. Most of the time I chaffe when I quit at 6:00 on Fridays, because the juices are flowing. Frankly, this keeps me motivated. The break always refreshes my passion for what I am writing.

I also gain inspiration in a Sabbath. I do not necessarily recommend that you stop thinking about your writing on a Sabbath, whenever you try to take it. But some of my best ideas come when I am not thinking about writing at all. If I didn't discipline myself a little, I would hardly ever have a time I was not thinking about my writing. And I discipline myself not to write down ideas that come to me in my rest. I will not argue with you who are shocked by that. But I feel like great ideas will continue to nag at me after the Sabbath. In a question and answer time at a Writers' Conference, Steven King was asked about keeping a Writer's notebook. He said "I think a Writer's notebook is a great way of immortalizing bad ideas." And if the Holy Spirit is my muse, I can trust Him to bring good ideas back to me.

Finally, and most closely related to Biblical observance of the Sabbath, by taking a break I acknowledge that God is the source of all writing. I show that I am trusting Him to help me think. I am asking God's help in finishing what I working on. A Sabbath declares that everything I am and have and do comes from God. I give it to Him much like I worship with a tithe of our income.

http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/

http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/

http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/




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