Dear friends,
I honestly don’t have a very good writing process. My process, while I was in school, was a little better than it is now, but still not great. I basically tried to gather all of the information I possibly could, organize what the paper was about, and write it the night before it was due. This got me through seminary, but not my Doctorate. However, when it came time for me to preach consistently, and fold it in with my other regular activities, the first thing to go was my process, which is a problem.
Steven Pressfield wrote a short book not too long ago called, Going Pro. It was a manual for becoming a writer, and what he said was that we need to treat writing professionally if we want to be professional at it. We need to exercise our muscles. Learn from other writers. Hire coaches and do drills and exercises. This sounds great, but when you are a professional minister first, as well as an amateur parent, dog owner, and fitness instructor, it becomes more and more difficult to follow a set process. Its passable writing, but nowhere near what could be possible.
Sometimes I feel this way in my discipleship as well. That I don’t really have a good process, and instead just kind of wing it when the opportunity comes along. It's passable but doesn’t come near what could be possible in my discipleship. Recently I heard that discipleship is a practice of letting go, and so the instructor asked the question, what is it we need to let go of? Which I think is a great way to look at the season of Lent. Finding what we need to let go of so we can “go pro” in our discipleship. For me, I need to let go of the things I already have in my hand. Sometimes I hold on to what I have, because it is already there, rather than embrace what God is giving me and what is possible.
Processes aren’t bad. In fact, processes can be the thing that sets us free. So, what is your discipleship process, or are we just kind of winging it?
Peace,
Jordan