This
post is long, bear with me, please?
How does a writer nurture a writing ministry?
First let’s look at the meaning of the word
nurture—to feed and protect, also to support and encourage. Having recently
celebrated Mother’s Day, the word nurture is a fresh reminder of a mother’s
loving and protective care for her children. But, you might ask, how does a
mother’s care relate to Christian writing?
Christian writers labor for God.
Labor takes time.
Writers should protect (or guard) their writing time
well!
The enemy of our souls (Satan) will do whatever he
can to steal a Christian writer’s focus from writing. As a result, that writer
loses precious writing time. Often Satan accomplishes this by presenting
legitimate projects that interrupt or hinder writing. Too many times these projects come packaged in
the form of church work. While I understand that Christians should lay their hands
to help in church ministries, they must also learn to balance church work with writing. Would a doctor give his/her workday to complete church work? I don't think so. Why should a work-from-home writer give up his/her writing time in order to complete church work or other projects?
Should writer’s not guard the time it takes to
execute a writing ministry with the same single-minded purpose that a mother
shows when protecting her children from harm?
God expresses in Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!
How often I wanted to gather your
children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but
you were not willing!” Using this text to represent nurturing a writing
ministry may seem a stretch, but not really, if you consider the comparison of
a mother hen and her chicks. Is a mother hen much different than a human mother
when caring for her young? When threatened, a hen instinctively gathers her
biddies under her wings, and does everything within her power to protect them,
just as a mother might her children.
If we consider our Christian writing a ministry then
we understand that God instructs us to minister for him. A ministry should be
nurtured, protected from the attacks or hindrances of Satan. Christian writers
suffer the fiery darts of the enemy just as pastors, teachers, evangelists, and
others who have a ‘call to minister’. Do not be deceived, anything that steals
time from or interrupts the work God has called you to should be considered a
strategy of the enemy to hinder that ministry. It is never prudent to become a
‘yes man’ within the body of Christ in order to please Christian brothers and
sisters, for therein one’s focus for the call of God is often lost.
Time is a precious commodity. If Christian writers
squander writing time, how can they successfully achieve the ministry God has
called them to complete? Further still, Christians, including ministers, must
account their actions to the Lord.
I’ve learned to ask myself this question. Do I use
my time wisely? Consider the Bible text about sowing and reaping. The only way
to harvest in ministry is to focus wholly on that ministry-sowing time and
effort into the ministry. I was recently, and somewhat shamefacedly, reminded
of the necessity NOT to squander my days on projects that eat up my writing
time. I did not guard my writing ministry, as it were. Allow me to clarify.
A situation arose wherein I took a monthly church
project upon myself. My only consideration was to help in a time of need as I
love my brothers and sisters in Christ and long to offer a helping hand where I
can. In actuality, I should have stepped back and said, “I’m sorry, no, I
haven’t the time.” I did not, likely because I’m still learning not to be a
people pleaser. Sigh. . . I truly did not consider the impact this monthly
project would have upon my writing. The project took a large chunk of my time
and my energy. As a result, my writing suffered. Although this was a worthy
project, I simply didn’t have time to dedicate to it. It was a ministry project
better taken on by the person called to accomplish it. Knowing I could not
allow said project to hinder my writing ministry further, I gave it up.
Lesson
learned: Guard my writing ministry, not only from overt
attacks but also from tasks, such as worthwhile church projects or ministries
that God has not called me to undertake, and that interrupt my work for the
Lord, i.e. my writing ministry.
I’m not perfect. God daily teaches me to do his
will. I’m yet learning to manage my time
well as I focus on my writing ministry.
When I took on that monthly church project I failed
to guard my writing ministry against a major interruption. I pray that, in the
future, I will better manage my time as I fulfill the work that God has called me to accomplish for
him. In other words, I’ll just say no to
outside interferences that steal my given writing time. I must guard the writing ministry God has entrusted to
my keeping as vehemently as a mother hen does her chicks; with the same passion
that God showed in Matthew 23:37.
Everyone has a place in the body of Christ—even
Christian writers. God uses writers to minister his gospel just as aptly as he
does pastors who preach the gospel from their pulpits. Guard your writing
ministry and do not allow anyone to place hindrances before it. If God has
called you to it, you are his minister.
So . . . WRITE.
What are some of the ways that you nurture your
writing ministry?
Was there ever a time that you failed to nurture, to
guard against the hindrances of the enemy, concerning your writing ministry?
Well, that's all the photos for now. I'll share more later in the week. 
Before Photo: The pantry, hoarded to the gills.
