Just Keep Writing

Every­one should learn to write. I know, I know! Many of you are groan­ing at this thought, hav­ing just spent hours work­ing with your child on his cur­rent writ­ing project, end­ing in tears and frus­tra­tion!  Per­haps you’re cring­ing at flash­backs from your high school days when you were assigned an x‑num­ber-of-words essay. Although, for most, writ­ing is a hard task, it’s one worth doing.

Whether or not we real­ize it, we all ben­e­fit from hav­ing cul­ti­vat­ed the skill of putting our thoughts to pen and paper (or key­board). Per­haps you own your own online busi­ness and are try­ing to accrue a fol­low­ing. You write a month­ly email to let your cus­tomers know what’s new and notable. Maybe you want to start your own busi­ness. You com­pose a busi­ness pro­pos­al. When you are asked to lead the next dis­cus­sion at your small group gath­er­ing, you jot down a list of top­ics and ques­tions. Your friend’s son asks you do be his ref­er­ence for a sum­mer camp he’d like to attend, so you fill out the form he gives you. What’s the com­mon denom­i­na­tor in all of this? Each one requires you write down words.

Learn­ing to write will set you up for suc­cess in any area of your life, even strange areas. Pur­su­ing his dream to become a Maine Guide, a friend of mine stud­ied and stud­ied for the exam. He knew the mate­r­i­al inside and out, yet he didn’t pass his test. Why? He failed the essay por­tion. The need to com­mu­ni­cate thoughts in an orga­nized way will nev­er dis­ap­pear. This is why prac­tic­ing the skill of writ­ing is so ben­e­fi­cial! Forc­ing us to slow down and rumi­nate on a thought, it trains our mind to think more deeply and then to sort and orga­nize. It expands our abil­i­ty to com­mu­ni­cate in a clear way. When com­pos­ing a per­sua­sive essay, you are forced to think about both sides of an argu­ment. Often, thoughts are hard to express, but writ­ing gives you agency to work through them until you’ve dis­cov­ered a way to state them. It fos­ters good com­mu­ni­ca­tion, thor­ough think­ing and bet­ter expres­sion. As Christ-fol­low­ers, we are expect­ed to share the gospel in word and in deed. The prac­tice of writ­ing helps us do just that.

So, when you’re slog­ging through anoth­er ses­sion of edit­ing with your resis­tant stu­dent, let this thought bol­ster you and help you per­se­vere: we are becom­ing bet­ter thinkers and com­mu­ni­ca­tors, thus shap­ing a heart and mind for the ser­vice of Christ.