January - When You Feel Uninspired.

I had made it my goal to write more in 2022- filling out this space with words, thoughts, emotions, deeds. I wanted to write at least 1/month, yet here I am January 25th, with no blog in sight. What started as a vision for new life and zesty blog posts to ship out, has taken an interesting turn: Empty hands in surrender, with no writing inspiration whatsoever. But that’s okay. I have a feeling this is the lesson for myself this January.

To be still and quiet, and to wait on the LORD.

Quiet in heart, quiet in spirit. Quiet in mind and emotion. Quiet when there is nothing to say, and quiet when I want to say some things that I shouldn’t. Quiet when I’m feeling antsy, or anxious, or a little unsure. Quiet in the big things, like frustration and despair. A quietness that both brushes the lips closed and fills the soul with shalom. Just… quiet. With nothing to prove to anyone, no void to (in an empty way) fill, no pride of my heart to flash. Just…quiet.

To feel uninspired is not a bad thing. With our society on the constant go with a “Do more, be more, always on top!” mentality, feeling uninspired can often be confused for depression or gloominess or laziness. But perhaps it’s a breath of an unknown fresh air, a detoxing of the things that were never meant to be. We weren’t created to run like this, with an umbilical cord to the world. Always present, always available, always having something to say, and always being expected to say it. This way of living has a peculiar way of taking us out from our homes and our families, and distracting us from what really matters. Faithfulness comes out of the mundane, and not the flashy. And boy would I rather be faithful than flashy. Steadiness, calm, gentleness and self-control. These are all virtues and characteristics that I want to be said of me. Things that are there for the taking, but often get exchanged for quick wittedness, humor, flattery, or business. But do these exchanges ever actually pay off? Or do they just add to the noise and leave us in the rat race, always running, never at rest.

Bring these things into the birth room, and tell me which you’d prefer.

(And taken even deeper, do we wait patiently with trust in Yah’s birth unfolding? Or do we rush to try *all the things* in hopes of outsourcing and outsmarting labor.)

In a grappling and grasping for words to write, maybe the lesson is that we don’t always need to fill the atmosphere with our words and wisdom. Humility and trust over self-recognition and wit. May it be said of us! Goodness, especially during seasons such as this. As we labor and birth new things, let us not run to fill voids with empty words in our own power without first waiting on Yah.

Proverbs 18:13
If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.

Proverbs 29:11
A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.

Amos 5:13
Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

1 Thessalonians 4:11
And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you.

1 Peter 3:4
But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

Isaiah 26:3
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Psalm 37:7
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Isaiah 30:15
For thus said the LORD God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”