A 'ready' writer

 

I imagine that several More Than Writers writers have picked this topic before, so forgive me if I am being repetitious.  However, this verse has cropped up a few times recently demanding my attention.  I must have learnt it in the King James Version back in the dim and distant days of Bible Club on a Sunday morning.  

    The NIV(UK) says it’s the pen of a ‘skilful’ writer but I’ve been wondering what a ‘ready’ writer is. 

    Is it the keen bean who’s up at 6am, done a two hour quiet time, gone for a run and is showered, breakfasted and ready to create fabulous prose – fiction or otherwise –  or indeed, poetry, on their laptop from 9am sharp?  Is it the writer who settles down with a squillion fabulous ideas ready to take the reading and publishing world by storm?  Perhaps it’s the wannabe author who has all their files of ideas alphabetised and is organised to the nth degree.

    Or perhaps it’s the writer, published or otherwise, who comes to their keyboard humble, prayerful and all too aware that sometimes the right words seem just out of reach, yet has an assurance that God is using them – if somewhat clumsily – to bring some truth to light, or to craft words into a format that will capture a reader. 

    You might feel that you’ve been bashing away for months, or even years, without any discernible progress, but that’s simply not the case.  You’re almost certainly improving with every completed paragraph.

    Everything you’ve ever written, deleted, scribbled, edited, scrunched into a ball and filed in the bin, and everything you’ve courageously put together and dared to show another person is part of your writing journey.  You may feel that you’ll never put anything together more creative than a shopping list.  Perhaps you write for your parish magazine, or church bulletin/news letter; or perhaps you’re embarking on a series of fantasy stories, a multigenerational memoir or a meaty work of non-fiction.  It makes no difference; if you’re doing it as a way of pursuing the gift God has given you, and you’re doing it in faith then you’re ‘ready’.

    The Bible says that ‘anything without faith is sin’ (Romans 14:23), but that faith is a gift of God which can also move mountains.  Alrighty then ; that's clear. Let’s be like the little chap who brought his loaves and fishes to Jesus.  It wasn’t much of a lunch for 5,000 people, but in God’s hands it turned into something quite extraordinary.

    I wonder whether we’re remotely ready for that? Let’s at least begin by bringing our writing efforts to Him, however feeble they may look. 

    Being a ready writer is simply a case of being willing, available and obedient.

    Whatever you’re writing today, let's remember that. It will relieve us from a ton of that self-inflicted pressure to be perfect.

Jenny Sanders has spent the last eleven years living between the UK and South Africa. She writes faith-inspired non-fiction: Spiritual Feasting (2020) asks how we can ‘feast’ when life serves unpalatable menus; Polished Arrows will be published in spring 2024, exploring the allegory of how God shapes us to be fired effectively into our culture and contexts. 

    Jenny also has two published collections of humorous short stories for Key Stage 2 children. She is available for author visits in primary schools, taking creative writing sessions.

    She loves walking in nature, preferably by a river, and has a visceral loathing for offal, pineapple and incorrect use of car indicators on roundabouts.