Tuesday, January 08, 2013

750 Words

People who follow me - @s1eve - on Twitter will be greeted, most days by a post such as today's:

I wrote 767 words in 21 minutes (3 day streak):

I have explained a bit about this before. The idea of 'Morning Words', for that is what the exercise is, is that a brain dump of the first things you want to say without a great need to worry about style or typos will be of benefit. You can also try and capture your dreams.

If you follow the link to my stuff my sharing preferences will tell you things such as how many words I wrote, how long it took me, how many days in a row I have managed and a list of the most common words in each entry. I will not let you read my work and sometimes, if the list of words has a dead giveaway, I don't share at all. You would worry if my most common words one day were church, warden and brake-pipes. They aren't.

Having done a couple of months I have subtly tweaked how I use the tool. For years I have suffered that slight evangelical guilt that a daily 'Quiet Time' to read the Bible and pray is a good thing. I have never found it easy, or good. Indeed the more I read the Bible the less I found the necessity to read it every day as biblical.

So, as someone who spends a great chunk of his day with a Bible open, I don't need an extra ten minutes at the beginning of the day on an unconnected passage. I don't do that dualistic thinking that it is not quite Quiet Time if you are preparing something. And I find the Bible is enthusiastic for me to pray continually - to involve God, as I understand God, in all I do and say.

So I have decided to make my 750 word exercise my prayer. For what is prayer but blurting your heart out in faith? And in those gaps where I know not what to write? Well surely that is listening for the still small voice - inner or outer - to inspire me.

After many years I have made the connection between the ability to type fast and the desire to take time out at the start of the day to think, reflect and wait in hope.

And, of course, you can all know if I am keeping it up.

Works for me.

(That was post 2,500. Thanks for reading.)

1 comment:

RuthJ said...

I love 'For what is prayer but blurting your heart out in faith?'