Write With Reckless Abandon
Written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.”
Different forms of writing were always torture for me. I moved to another school almost every year, which produced holes in my education. Grammar was an area where I suffered, making writing a torturous endeavor. In my first semester of college, I remember my first English instructor giving me a C on my term paper. She said, “this is one of the most informative papers I have ever read, but I have to give you a C because your grammar needs so much work, and I teach English.” From then on, I faced writing with fear and trepidation.
Sadly, I wasted most of my life missing the opportunity to write. We can learn grammar, but the creative gift of writing is a divine blessing. Writing helps unlock the inner working of our soul because it can tap into our subconscious. Rather than step into the writing process with apprehension, we should consider it a spiritual journey into the heart of the soul. The spiritual journey into the soul allows me to write more than a thousand devotions over the past six years, even though my grammar remains suspect.
In her book The Right to Write, Julia Cameron invites us to remember the example of a toddler. “As toddlers, first we grab and then we grab with words. Every word we learn is an acquisition, a bit of gold that makes us richer.” My daughter and children visited last weekend, and I had time to play with the boys. The younger boy is twenty months old, and his vocabulary is just taking off. Cameron describes the toddler’s hunger for words this way: “They are filled with will and intent. They are filled with passion and purpose.” Toddlers are not worried about making mistakes but learning to experience more of life.
Today, take some time to put your thoughts down on paper. Don’t worry about the grammar and write without the intention of sharing your words. Instead, write as a means of opening your soul. I am not asking you to write the next great novel or a theological treaty. Instead, write for yourself and perhaps God as an informative act of prayer. You just might find your inner toddler and experience passion and purpose through your written words. Finally, pray at the beginning and end of each writing session. Invite God into the process and thank God for whatever you put down on paper, even the uncomfortable stuff. God uses honesty to dig deeper into the subconscious and provide a place for the soul to express itself.
