It’s Day 25 of the 50-Day Writing Challenge. I can’t believe I’m halfway there already. Seems like I just began writing a week ago! As I consider the last few weeks, I’m glad this writing challenge happened. While there were days I felt I had nothing unique to write about, somehow the challenge to push past the feelings and just write, ensured something got written – whether good or bad!

I’m learning the discipline of writing thoughts down, not worrying whether I am expressing myself in beautiful prose. I think that is key – especially when processing thoughts and ideas. Instead of wondering how I sound or come across to my readers, if I just truthfully state all I’m ruminating about, I would have achieved what I set out to do. The beauty is that once a thought is out there, a new one arises to take its place in my mind. There is no sense of running dry but rather a welling up of further reflections and learning, drawing me deeper in my walk with the Lord of the universe. This challenge is teaching me to not be afraid of emptying myself because I am assured that I will be refilled again, which is stimulating and soul-satisfying.

In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis says it well – “The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether. Your real, new self will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for everyday matters…Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it…Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

 

 

Photo by Luke van Zyl on Unsplash