Holy Habits And Writer’s Block by Rob Haynes

I’m behind on my deadline. Well, I’m behind on several deadlines, actually. This article was supposed to be on the editor’s desk quite some time ago, as a matter of fact. I am thankful for his grace. I have tried, really. Missing a deadline is hard for someone like me who prides himself on planning and getting results and producing materials. I told him that it was writer’s block that was causing the holdup. I have come to realize that it was, in fact, due to a loss of habits — my own habits that lead to missing those deadlines. It wasn’t an external block stopping me. It has been my own lack of better habits that has stopped me. Let me try to explain.

As a pastor and church planter, I have a regular deadline. On any given week, I have a sermon to write, a worship service to plan. For some reason, it feels like Sunday comes every five days. In addition to sermons, pastoring means other writing responsibilities: newsletters, social media messages, email communication to the congregation and leadership teams. I am also a theologian. As such, I feel that God is asking me to share insights He has given me. That means another book project, a chapter in another book or two. It means some lectures and articles like this one. It is an incredible privilege to work on any and all of these. It humbles me to think about it. At the same time, it is work. It is hard work to write, sometimes. Getting into the mental space to create takes careful cultivation and preparation. The environment has to be just right. Preparing for it is not like other jobs. If I want to mow my lawn, all I have to do is start the mower and go to it. Not so with creating a piece of writing, like a sermon or a Bible Study, or a message on some aspect of God’s love.

Why Daily Spiritual Habits Matter More Than You Think

The tasks cultivation and preparation for communicating the Truths of God are like writing anything else. A scene from the 1988 film Biloxi Blues comes to mind. Eugene Jerome is a young aspiring writer. He asks the bookish Arnold Epstein what he should read to become a great writer. Arnold answers, “The entire third floor of the New York Public Library.” The point is, in order to write, there are habits that must be practiced long before the words are put to the page. Reading, thinking, studying, and in the case of the Christian, prayer and reflection. I’ll add confession to the list. I’ll confess that I did not have writer’s block. I had fallen out of the habits that allowed me to write. I have created a rhythm of my day that includes time to read, time to write, time to pray, time to study. Some of those have fallen by the wayside. I let other things creep in and take the time I had set aside for those. They weren’t bad things, necessarily. However, I cannot do the bigger things I have been called to do if I don’t do little things for weeks and months leading up to that.

What John Wesley Meant by the Means of Grace

I don’t share this merely to air my bad habits, or lack of good habits, about when and how to create something. Rather, I think there is a deeper lesson from our Wesleyan heritage here. Mr. Wesley was adamant that we should be diligent about practicing the Means of Grace. By this term, he meant “outward signs, words, or actions, ordained of God, and appointed for this end, to be the ordinary channels whereby he might convey to men, preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace.” He said that “chief of these means are prayer, whether in secret or with the great congregation; searching the Scriptures; (which implies reading, hearing, and meditating thereon;) and receiving the Lord’s Supper, eating bread and drinking wine in remembrance of Him: And these we believe to be ordained of God, as the ordinary channels of conveying his grace to the souls of men.” (See Sermon 16, “Means of Grace”)

How Spiritual Disciplines Prepare You for Life’s Difficult Seasons

I have been talking about demands on my time. The consequences of missing a writing deadline are not pleasant, but manageable and not likely to have spiritual ramifications. However, Wesley understood that there are very real demands on our spiritual lives. There are very real deadlines in the life of faith. There will be a crisis that will come our way: the illness of a loved one, an event that leads one to question God’s goodness, being forced to confront one’s own mortality, and a thousand others. Dealing with these does not usually happen with the ease of turning a switch. Rather, it is in preparing oneself through little habits on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.

Cultivating Faith Before the Crisis Arrives

We often look at the martyrs or other great heroes of the faith. In the telling of their stories, we recount an extraordinary event or trial. We marvel at their faith in the face of great pressures. We are in awe of the courage in the lion’s den or the fiery furnace or Roman prison. However, a closer examination of these stories shows us years of spiritual work long before the defining moment. Of course, the Holy Spirit works in these situations. However, we need to give the Holy Spirit more to work with! We need to practice these Means of Grace in the mundane, so when the unexpected trails come our responses come from cultivated habits.

Most of us will not face a literal fiery furnace or hungry lions or the difficulties of a Roman-like prison for our faith. Articles such as these will be asked for by editors (thank you God for grace!) However, we will all face trails. We will face bad news from the doctor, a hard time from a boss or coworker, a betrayal from a family member, disappointment from a child or parent. These trials are very real and can seem overwhelming. However, the developed habits of the Means of Grace will give us what we need at the right time. Would you join me in trying to re-establish the ordinary habits to be ready for the extra-ordinary demands?