The Value Of Pausing To Reflect

 

The last few weeks have been a time of reflection and remembering for our church as we prepared for a significant milestone last Sunday – our pastor’s final service before moving to take up a new position. 

     For any church, this would be a substantial change, but as our nine-year-old church plant has never existed with any other pastor, I think it is particularly daunting. However, amidst all the praying, planning, and emotional goodbyes, the opportunity to reflect has been helpful. 

     It has been encouraging to take time to remember the history of our church – the ups and downs, and the many ways we have seen God working. It has also been reinvigorating to remember why our church was planted in the first place, to recall our vision for our community, to reflect on what led us each to be part of it. 

     I think for many of us this period of remembering and reflecting has been helpful in reinforcing our call to the church and the community, despite the changes that lie ahead. 

     It struck me that this kind of reflection can be helpful in other areas of life, such as writing. 

     Perhaps we started out with a particular vision, with hopes and dreams, maybe even with a plan for the way ahead. For some of us, it may have worked out as we envisioned; for others the reality may have been very different. Some of us may remain passionate and motivated, while others may have lost some of our initial enthusiasm and vision along the way. Whichever category you fall into, I think it can be helpful occasionally to pause and re-evaluate. 

     Next month it will be ten years since I began blogging, which seems like an appropriate opportunity to pause and reflect, so I have come up with some questions to ask myself: 

• What led you to start writing in the first place?
• What was your vision? What were your hopes?
• What have been the highs and lows along the way?
• What has surprised you? (whether good or bad) What have been the unexpected opportunities?
• What have you learned?
• How has God used your writing?
• What is your vision for writing now? In what ways is it the same as your original vision, and in what ways has it changed?
• What are your hopes for the next year/ few years? (Pick a timeframe that works for you.)
• In what areas would you like to learn or grow?
• Are there areas where God is calling you to step into something new, or to stop something?
• What practical steps do you need to take?

     I don’t have answers to all these questions yet (maybe I will by the time I write next month’s blog!) but I’m hoping it will be a fruitful exercise. 

     Perhaps you’d like to join me in reflecting on your writing, and if you have any tips or experiences to share of this, please feel free to share in the comments!

Lesley Crawford blogs at Life In The Spacious Place and contributes regularly at Gracefully Truthful. She has written One Big Story, a Bible curriculum for school groups and contributed to various anthologies, including the ACW anthology, "Merry Christmas, Everyone" and "The Jesse Tree Anthology".