Someone recently paid me a wonderful compliment about my writing. Since words of affirmation are my love language, I was deeply encouraged. I also realized something:
I can’t not write. Words are the rhythm of my heart. Images form into words, and those words form into sentences–almost of their own accord. This is the way God has woven me together, and to not write, would be to quench his Spirit within me.
“Rejoice always;
pray without ceasing;
in everything give thanks;
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not quench the Spirit.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-19)
There are many ways to rejoice. Many ways to pray. Many ways to give thanks. But only one way to be in God’s will. That Way? Jesus Christ. The rejoicing, the praying, the giving thanks, it has in its end this Way. Jesus, in my sights. Rejoicing, praying, giving thanks, somehow these happen when I write, as if my spirit operates on a level of reality I can’t fully understand.
What’s burning within you? What can you not do? Don’t quench the Spirit, but let him direct you in your rejoicing, praying, and thanking–to the end of Jesus Christ.