Each semester since I've been at Asbury, we've hosted a poetry workshop with Dave Harrity, a fabulous poet and teacher in the Jessmine County area. Each workshop has brought great poets into light for me, and has challenged and stretched my creative writing boundaries. This year has been no exception.
One of the big challenges this year has been the 20-minutes-a-day challenge; we've been challenged to write poetically for at least 20 minutes a day as a discipline. Part of this commitment breaks us out of the lie that we have to be inspired to write poetry. It de-mystifies it, makes it more everyday and less out of reach.
I've not been hugely successful with this challenge; on some days this week, I've been lucky to pick up a pen. However, the message and weight of the challenge has deeply affected me, especially when I think of other disciplines in my life. Take song writing. I'm not a song writer, and part of the reason that's true is because I don't consider myself a song writer. What do song writers do? They write songs. (I guess.) Harrity challenged us to call ourselves poets. Why? Claiming to be a poet doesn't make you a good poet, or a published poet, or even a poet someone else wants to read. But it does make being a poet part of your identity system, that cluster of hats you wear everyday and other times as well. And when you think of yourself as a poet, you've laid a deeper groundwork for starting to write poetry.
I think spiritual disciplines are similar to these kinds of habits. When you think of yourself as a person who doesn't pray much, you probably stay away from prayer, use it as a last resort instead of a first response. But what if you thought about yourself as a pray-er. As someone who prays. You might find yourself leaning into the disipline of prayer, even learning about it, reading, talking to others, etc..., all because you see yourself as personally linked to that identifier. I am a pray-er. I pray.
We often dis-associate ourselves from some disciplines that we aren't good at, or we don't understand, like fasting or Sabbath-keeping, or solitude. Or even true fellowship. Here's a challenge for you: find one of those disciplines you think you are not good at but that somehow you know "should" be a part of you as a believer in Christ. (I know...shoulds push people's buttons, but you know what I'm getting at). Then make it a part of your way of viewing who you are. Maybe a simple declaration:
like I am a fast-er.
Or I am a memorize-er.
Say it to yourself everyday. Let it sink in. Then set yourself to that discipline. Don't worry about being good at it, or "publishable" or whatever. Just set yourself to it. As a part of who you are and who you're becoming. Let me know how it goes. I'll help out if I can.
Blessings,
drew
Comments