What do you do when you’re stuck in a writing funk and don’t feel inspired to write?
Days like those are what I like to call low-energy days.
Low-energy days like to sneak up on us from time to time and throw us off track. They like to make us think that what we’re doing isn’t going to work.
I’ve had my own share of low-energy days where I just can’t seem to muster up the motivation to write no matter how hard I try.
I just don’t want to do the things I told myself I’d do. I get stuck in a writing funk.
Over my writing career, I’ve learned that I have to dig underneath the surface of those feelings. I have to pull up the roots of what is causing me to get stuck.
Low-energy days don’t just happen. We have to stop and ask ourselves what’s going on that’s causing that low-energy.
The answer can be found in our thoughts. Usually, we get stuck in a low-energy mood or a writing funk because we think we can’t succeed.
We believe that we are responsible for making the seeds we are planting grow and then we get stuck when we think we that we just can’t.
Here’s the truth…
It is not our responsibility to make those seeds grow. In fact, we can’t make the seeds grow.
Our responsibility as Christ-followers and godly stewards is to plant the seeds and water them.
That’s it. Only God can make the seeds grow.
It’s helpful to think of this in terms of planting real seeds.
When a gardener plants a real seed, he digs up the earth, plants the seed in the nourishing soil, and waters it continuously to help it grow. However, the growth process occurs deep within the earth. The gardener cannot see the seed grow within the soil and he does not make the growth happen. He simply nourishes the seed and trusts that the growth will come.
Our thoughts, words, and actions are the seeds that we plant, and faith and prayer is how we water them.
We have to let go of the expectation that we should be making the seeds grow. When we do that, we then focus entirely on nourishing the seeds and creating a healthy environment for them.
We can’t see the process that happens underneath the soil, but we trust that the seeds are growing as they should be.
In the same way, we can trust that God is working behind the scenes to grow the seeds we are planting through our writing and our speaking.
If we are faithful to the work the Holy Spirit has appointed to us, we can trust that He will be faithful to us in return.
So, the next time you find yourself in a writing funk, dig underneath to figure out what’s causing that low-energy mood and remind yourself that your job is simply to plant the seed and water it.
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