Every morning, God is faithful.
Every noontime, God is faithful.
Every evening, God is faithful.
Constant. Sure. Trustworthy. Ever present. Faithful.
“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. ” – Lamentations 3:22-23, KJV
God’s character is to be faithful, always, everywhere, every day. I wish I could say the same is always true of me.
I want to be faithful to God, to others, to my gift as a writer, and to my calling as a spiritual director, book coach, and editor, yet, I am not. There’s a brokenness in me that comes from personal sin and the results of the fall. These keep me from being fully who I desire to be, who God has called me to be. It is God’s faithfulness amid lament, amid things gone awry, that leads us to hope, to hold on, to hover near God. Beholding God helps me hold onto hope that I can become more like Jesus and more fully my true self.
As this new year offers a fresh start, this butterfly of desire flutters within me. I hope again. I long to be, once more, faithful, true, reliable. I like to think this means that this year will be the year I will be faithful in all the ways, in all the things. Yet it doesn’t take long to see the truth: I’m reliably good at flailing, failing, and falling. I overthink and overindulge. Can you identify?
What’s true in our hearts is also true in our writing life. We intend to be reliable and steady, yet distractions, like magnets, pull us away. What keeps you from taking the time to create ideas, stories, poetry, and ponderings? What waylays your faithfulness to growing as a writer?
The good thing about failure is it reminds us again of how God works. He’s always about giving us space to begin again. He is always faithful to love us, to invite us closer, to just be here with us, no matter what. Yet He never wants to leave us in the state of disrepair He finds us in.
God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.
Lamentations 3:22-23, The Message
How good to know God’s love doesn’t run out, doesn’t dry up, doesn’t fade away. As the Amplified Bible reminds us, God’s love and mercy are abundant, great, and stable.
It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not.
They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23, Amplified Bible, Classic
Faithful Rhythms Train Our Writing Life
So how do we move forward to being more like God, more faithful in the small and the big? How do we become faithful people who steward the gifts God has given us? This time of year, everybody has an opinion about how to kick off 2025 with a good solid start. Do this and not that. Do that and not this.
We all have the best of intentions, don’t we? We imagine a new goal, a new leaf turned over, a new way forward as we make our resolutions. Yet the second Friday in January marked National Quitter’s Day. Abandoning resolutions happens so early in the year. So how do we, who are fickle yet have such a faithful God, travel through the year ahead without quitting on what matters in our life as writers who love Him?
The reality is that every day has challenges and the unexpected can be expected to happen. To me, resolutions feel like drawing a line in the sand and saying this is an absolute. Resolutions loudly proclaim, “I must do _____.” It’s up to me to do it all on my own. Then when I don’t, when I miss that exact mark, I abandon the resolution completely. Maybe that’s how National Quitter’s Day came to be…folks like me resolving something only to dissolve it when I can’t make it happen!
Instead, I like to think in terms of rhythms, places where I pay attention to the Spirit’s movement and the way life can have some fluidity to it. By creating rhythms, I allow spaciousness while also creating sound boundaries that don’t feel as daunting as a resolution. To me, a rhythm involves God’s invitation to partnership. I choose to answer His call. I aim for what He’s invited me into for the person I am. Yet rhythms also involve training.
Paul discusses the concept of training for godliness in 1 Timothy 4:7-8. He also speaks of this idea in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. He reminds us that the way to compete in athletic games is to add training to our regime. Just as athletes train to be able to do what they desire, so can writers.
Suppose I woke up one morning, bought a plane ticket, packed a backpack, and said, “I am going to try to climb Mt. Everest today.” The mountaineers among us would ask, “Hold up, there. How have you trained?” In other words, to “try” sounds noble yet idealistic. It’s not enough to have the goal in mind. To have such a lofty goal happen, there needs to be ongoing action that transforms my weak climbing muscles into muscles that can scale mountains. The writing life is no different.
Let’s try this on for size as we think of our writing life. To come to the end of 2025 having moved forward in our writing life will require us to train to do so. I can’t wish a book or a blog into being. So, let’s look at ways we can train our way into a writing life rhythm.
The TRAINing Rhythm
Consider what would change if you, as a writer, were to move forward with a TRAINing rhythm. Ponder this as one path forward. I like to think of what might happen if we become:
Teachable
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- Where are you growing in your skills as a writer?
- What books are you reading that display excellence in word use and plot or theme development?
- How do you spend time being reflective about what makes a book work well?
Learn more about the craft of writing from books, book coaches, courses, podcasts, and webinars. Hire an editor. Exchange your latest works with other writers. Be teachable.
Realistic
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- What’s possible and wise in your universe?
- Are your goals too lofty or too easy?
In the season of life you are in, choose small repeatable steps. Over a long time, this will lead to big differences in the quality and quantity of your writings. Set expectations and goals that are possible. Be realistic.
Accountable
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- Who is in your circle of accountability?
- Who helps hold you accountable for the hopes and dreams you have?
Let others into your circle. Join a writing group. Connect with a writing friend so together you can declare deadlines and aim for goals that matter. Hire a writing coach. Be accountable.
Intentional
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- What’s on your calendar?
- Where’s the time carved out for your writing life to happen?
By writing down an appointment with yourself to write, you declare the importance of your craft. You create an expectation that can lead to a rhythm that can grow your life as a writer. Be intentional.
Nimble
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- How do you move your writing life to the ways of the Spirit?
- What mindsets need tossing? Which ones need feeding to nourish your stewardship for the gift of writing God has given you?
- What do you have in place to care for your soul as a writer?
- When are you willing to go with the flow that God invites you into?
- How can you hover with God rather than stay on the hustle circuit as a writer?
Stay flexible while staying consistent. Be nimble.
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When I played on our high school tennis team, our tennis coach cheered folks on who fine-tuned their cross-court slice or their powerful serve on their own time. Delighting in the gift of being a person passionate about tennis, teammates chose to step into ways meant to grow their game skills. They let go of late-night events to be on the tennis courts early on Saturday mornings or before school started during the week.
Conversely, people were dropped from the team who didn’t show up for practice, didn’t care for their bodies with good rest and good nutrition, and didn’t devote themselves to activities conducive to growing their skills as tennis players.
The players who grew best grew from being TRAINed: teachable, realistic, accountable, intentional, and nimble. By wisely investing time and energy into their passion for the game of tennis, they became tennis players of excellence. The same is true in our writing world.
Being faithful to training creates growth toward what we desire to happen as we steward our life as writers.
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- What’s one thing that brings you joy as a writer?
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- What’s one mindset that needs attention for your creative endeavors?
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- What’s one commitment you will make for this first quarter of the year to help you train as a writer?
Every morning, God is faithful. Every morning, He lavishes love on us. Every morning, we are given the joy and the responsibility to steward our gift of writing. Every morning, we can become more faithful in the life we love as creative creatures of our God and King.
Let’s train to be faithful writers whose words bring glory to God every single day.
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FREE resource for your writing journey – T.R.A.I.N. Downloadable Workbook