In 2007, I started a Twitter account with the goal of posting 5 tweets a day. It was a private account, like a secret lab to experiment with words. The anonymity provided safety in case of failure. The limited character space forced me to say something without saying much. It was a simple, realistic, addictive way to practice writing well. Since then I have tried my hand at blogging, wrote and published a book, and write 10,000 words a month.
Writing and reading feed off each other. I remember reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. No book has taught me more about writing than this eccentric, poetic, open-hearted story of a life in words.
The Writing Life is a Self-Controlled Life
Inspiration is not random. It is specific. It is more of an urban myth than a serious method.
Writers who wait to be inspired will miss out on the power of cultivating an inspired mind. The regular grind of frequently sitting in front of a blank page or screen is the first step to writing well. It requires sanctity in your schedule, the deliberate effort to carve out space for yourself in silence and solitude. Regularly.
God created order out of chaos and he gives us the power to imitate him. He who has authority over all things graciously gives us self-control over our things.
Self-control is a rare and precious superpower. It can give you authority over your exaggerated feelings, thoughtless words, irrational thoughts, and impulsive decisions. Inversely, it can give you power to regulate your feelings, give shape to your words, organise your thoughts, and make wise decisions.
It changes your relationship to online shopping, church-hopping, scrolling, trolling, eating, and drinking. You can learn to manage money, commit to people, walk without looking at a phone, and enjoy the benefits of a healthy diet. Self-control saves you from doing too much or too little of anything; and brings you into the powerful grace of a gymnast on a balancing beam.
Self-control is the power that turns a wild stallion into a powerful beast completely at your service. It can even help you write well.
The Self-Controlled Life is a Spirit-filled Life
Writers with self-control will not only enjoy the pleasure of writing well. They will enjoy the gift of living well. When God gives you self-control, he is giving you the keys to abundant life. You can build a cathedral of worship in your heart and a city of great riches in your soul so that all who live in it, thrive. Abundantly.
For much of my life, in most areas of my life, I did not enjoy much self-control. In a strange way, my self was in control of my life. But I had no control over myself. Like a runaway train, my feelings controlled my reasoning, my impulses controlled my decisions, and my fears controlled my relationships. I knew what I needed to do, but never had the power to do it.
The grace of God is not simply pardon for wrongdoing. It is the power of God for wise living. Self-control is less of a skill that you learn and more of a gift that you receive. It comes with the fruit of the Spirit. Though it is something we grow in, it is more like something God grows in us (1 Cor. 15:10).
The true test of the power of the Spirit in someone’s life is not the gifts but the fruit of the Spirit. It is possible for someone to perform signs and wonders without walking in step with the Spirit (Matt. 24:24). But the surest sign of someone walking in the Spirit is that they are walking in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).
It takes the Spirit of God at work in us for self-control to have its way in us. He writes God’s grace into our hearts so we can write to God’s people with his power at work in our lives.
The Spirit-filled Life is a Beautiful Life
The writing life is an insecure life. It comes with the vulnerability of self-revelation, droughts of inspiration, feelings of inadequacy, and the temptation to make a name for yourself. But writing in Christ is unlike any writing life. It is a Spirit-filled life.
As we grow in God’s grace, we grow in his power, to act according to his Word. It is as simple, profound, and beautiful as that. The power for the writing life and the Christian life is the same: the firm assurance that we are dearly loved children of God (Eph. 5:1).
In every way, the Spirit fills our hearts with God’s power, so our ink wells are never empty. We can write without fear of what people will think of us because the Spirit gives us confidence about God’s delight in us (Rom. 8:15-17, 1 Cor. 3:21-23).
When we rejoice that our names are written in heaven, we can write without striving to make a name for ourselves (Luke 10:20).
We can take the great risk to reveal ourselves at any cost, because God was pleased to make his fullness dwell in Christ, at the greatest cost (Col. 1:19-20).
We can always write on behalf of the Lord because the Spirit is always interceding on our behalf. The more deeply we know that he hears our wordless groans, the less likely we are to live as wordless writers (Rom. 8:26).
We will always have something to write about because the Spirit always has something to talk about. He is always opening our eyes to see wondrous things in the law, the most wonderful of which is Christ himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3, Ps. 119:18, Luke 24:24).
The Spirit-filled life is a beautiful life because we do not write to justify ourselves. We write because we are justified in Christ. We are free from the pressure to perform as writers in the world, and free to live with the pleasure to perform as the dearly loved children of God (Eph. 5:1).
