The Gift of What I'll Never Write

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Yesterday was frustrating. When I woke up ideas were flowing. I was ready to grab my laptop and christen a new Word doc. But I couldn't. Later something I read sparked another writing idea. An important conversation was happening and I want to contribute. No one has quite said what I want to say. But again, I couldn't. As a writer, yesterday was frustrating.

But yesterday was also a gift.

I couldn't write in the morning because my six-year-old son wanted to talk about the NBA draft with me before he went to school. My nine-year-old son wanted to talk about his artwork and told me how much he enjoys the time he gets to draw with his grandpa. I could have written after the kids went to bed but instead watched a K-drama with my wife. Yesterday was a gift.

Most of my writing happens in the margins. Between family, work and school, it's rare to have a day just for writing. I started this piece before everyone woke up today and there have been normal interruptions almost every paragraph. I finished it while making KD for the last lunch of the school year. I assume things like this are normal for writers. Much of what I want to write lives only in my mind. And it likely will stay there. That's okay.

Embrace Your Limits

My church has been working through Ecclesiastes - the place naïve optimism goes to die. But it's not a depressing book. Ecclesiastes is about happiness. Wisdom trains us to enjoy the good (Ecc 12:9-14).

One of the marks of mature wisdom is knowing your limits. Life can be a confounding mystery. Once we have it figured out, the unpredictable happens. A reminder that we are not in control. Ecclesiastes 8:17 puts it bluntly, "I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it" (Ecc 8:17). Wisdom does not unlock superpowers for controlling the future. The wisest people cannot explain everything because God has woven mystery into human experience (Ecc 3:11). A mature wisdom is carried by a humble person who recognizes their limits. The articles you won't write, the poems that never make it to the page, the stories playing out just in your mind, remind us that we are not just writers. We are human.

Enjoy The Gift

Limitations are not killjoys. The Preacher in Ecclesiastes observes that the ones who constantly try to transcend their limitations are the ones who miss the good of life. In two places he commends enjoying the gift you've been given.

He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life. It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts. (Ecc 3:11-13).

Here is what I have seen to be good: It is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward... This is a gift of God, for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart. (Ecc 5:18-20).

The mundane parts of life are sweet gifts from God. Life itself is a gift. We are not necessary. The world could exist without us. But it doesn't. Every day, when we take another breath, share another meal, cry another tear, and play Nintendo with our kids reminds us that life is a gift. It is something we have received and not something we have made. Bobby Jamieson explains an implication of this, "As obvious as it is that you exist, it's equally clear that your life is not your own but comes from elsewhere. If life is a gift, then life is a grace and a miracle. Grace because you didn't deserve it; miracle because you can't explain it. What you can and must do is receive it." Receive it with contentment and gladness. If life is a gift from God, then life is worth savouring and enjoying.

It is a gift and a joy to write.

But so are early morning coffees talking NBA draft talk, the winding roads explaining every element of the latest poster my son made, and the tear-soaked laughter at K-drama craziness.

Life happens. Laundry needs folding, toilets need fixing, and dinner needs cooking. It may keep us from writing what we want, but that doesn't make it any less of a gift.