I have spent much of today preparing to speak this week in Texas. My desk is mainly for emails and organizing and finances. My chair is for thinking and writing and creating. Today has mostly been a chair day. Creating sermons is more art than task for me. I pour myself a cup of tea and pray and think and talk and type…and start the cycle all over again.
Sometimes it is easier than other times. Sometimes there is more or less static in the process. Often my eyes leave the computer and my mind leaves the subject and I thought I would share what I see (and think) in those moments from my chair:
A piano: Directly in front of my chair is a black baby grand electric piano. Even staring at it is soothing. Pianos have always held a special place in my soul. I actually sigh when I walk past them. As my eyes drift from my prep to my piano, I remember that God is near. That He hears and loves all my sounds. And…that I haven’t dusted in months.
A painting: Well, an almost finished water-color on an easel. A few years ago I started it while on a prayer retreat. It’s unfinished, just like I am. It’s waiting, just like I am. One day I may complete it…or not.
A willow: If my sermon prep pause continues, my eyes glide from piano to painting and right out the window to the willow. And it is sheer beauty in motion. Today the wind was whipping its branches but even the force could not empty the tree of its innate grace. The willow kept bending and weaving ever more wildly as the gusts shook its leafless branches. The willow inspires me to dream and to dance…and to not fear the future.
Which brings me back to my chair, back to my prep, back to the tea and the text. Some might call the process a distraction. Perhaps. If so, maybe some distractions are really preparations in disguise if they infuse us with fresh 
vision and remind us of ancient love.
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Learning Together: What have you surrounded yourself with that inspires you? A candle? A picture? This week I’ll be sending a gift of Margaret Feinberg‘s new 40 Days Live Lent downloadable Scripture coloring book to someone who comments below!
Thank you for the moment of rest created by the piano, the picture and the willow.
The challenge is to end the distraction at the willow. Father, end my distractions today on the willow. Show me your love through your creation around me. Don’t let me camp out on a distraction of the enemy. Lead me to the truth of the willow.
I love how intentional you are, even in rest, you are always moving forward 🙂
I love what you said about being unfinished…yet! That is such a freeing statement to think about, how we are unfinished but makes me think about how the work of Christ was finished on the cross when He gave His life. And someday…we will also be finished when we share eternity with Him. Thanks for making me think bigger picture today. Something I really needed. Love the words you speak into my life.
What drew me to your post, Alicia, was your mentioning the willow. My daughter Anna just finished a poster report about the black willow which is native to Texas and much of the eastern parts of the US. I surround myself with things like this that pronounce their beauty to me so readily. Having read recently about the culture of Jesus’ day, I realize what I consider generous and beautiful would be luxurious and of massive proportions to the average person in Judea: my home, our rooms, the amount of dishes we own! I find it rather humbling as I realize that I have much to be thankful for, even the “distractions” of our children in various seasons of life, aged 20 down to 8 years. They daily have concerns we must walk them through. This pull to walk along side them and yet do the necessary things of life, too, can feel overwhelming, but the “distractions” have forced me to go to God when the matter is too weighty for me. Without that push to His feet, I may not have ever realized the precious blessings I have in knowing Him, walking with Him, and seeking out His help. I want that more and not just to feel as if I am pulled from one distraction to another. Thankfulness must be the order of the day for me! Thank you God for the moments of quiet and the push to your feet. Thank you for those around me and friends like Alicia that challenge me to remember and treasure each moment.
‘All things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.’ Romans 8:28
Thank you for sharing some of your process. It is encouraging.
I love this! I’m usually a very structured person-enjoying order & timelines. However, as a worship leader for a small church, I spend it whimsically and see inspiration in many areas, and it brings out the artistic side of myself which I’m learning to love and enjoy…taking the time to breathe in the Lord’s presence.
#inspiration #thankyouLord
What an extra special glimpse into the craft of writing! I love the juxtaposition of the desk versus the chair. I have been discovering the crook of our living room couch, making my home there when inspiration hits. I suppose it is a writing place which will need to change as I get more serious as a writer. For now, it is in the center of distraction where I can hear bird song and child’s play keeping me attuned to this season of rest and play. Even while writing serious prose, I must relax and take joy in the word play, flit around with ideas, and enjoy the whole creative process.
Thanks for sharing. The beauty of the willow tree strikes me as it has deep roots that run for water. I love how adaptive they are
I also am preparing a sermon.
When I pause I see the identifying accessories of a home serving as a rehab center sometimes, critical care unit occasionally, always a home for the progressively disabled husband. Bandages, mixes for smoothies the days when he cannot chew, the dreaded but such a blessing…paper underwear. All of this pushes what the world would call beautiful out into another room in our small apartment.
There was a time I resented the space all of this occupies but now I consider it all supreme gifts from the God Who Sees, Knows, and Provides.
I have been writing sermons most of my life–I’m seventy-seven now. The ones that appear to have had the greatest impact in the lives of others have been those written in this cluttered place that resonates with the cry for the healing of God. Both in body and soul.
Miriam Conrad
miriamlconrad@gmail.com
Wow what a great message for us to allow God to speak and see his beauty in distractions. I pray that he will allow this in my life as I wait patiently!
Artistry. So often, God inspires it in and through the most common threads of our lives. Always there. Silently waiting for notice. Pulsing with possibility for turning mundane into miracle. I wonder why this doesn’t happen to us more often, surrounded as we are by calls from God? Surely, the problem does not lie with the message or the Messenger. Accept that, and all of my complaints of boredom and banality will sound like the hollow squawks of the odd bird who sits in her “safe” cage with a full food dish…looking for a newer, more tasty morsel.
Alicia, thanks for the reminder that entertaining play and opening one’s self to entertain pause is, in fact, productive! As I type, I too gaze upon a winterized hardwood outside my office. Its branches are barren, save the tiny little buds at the tips. They are closed tight, awaiting the warm invitation of spring and the new life that season promises. Another reminder of God’s love! Keep writing, we love you.
I have a chair that faces a window overlooking a spacious back yard…I sit in my chair with pen in hand and a beautiful journal in my lap…and I often gaze out the window. I watch the birds and the squirrels dance in the trees and eat from the feeders. I remember that the birds of the air do not toil or spin and our heavenly father cares for them. Surely He cares for me as well.
Thank you for sharing your heart and inspiring me to surround myself with things that can speak to my life. Above my desk I have a a wall sticker that says “Believe in stickers everyday”! I also have another one that says “Just breathe”! I need to be reminded to slow down and enjoy God’s blessings as I have so much on my plate. Praying for direction on removing some of those things! Thank you again as your writings refresh my soul!
Hello Alicia,
I love looking at trees, all trees. The willow, so graceful, with branches
that dance in the wind. Midwestern winters can play havoc with nature,
yet, the roots of the willow continue to give life producing sap to the tree, quietly underground. What might appear as death actually is the
producer of life. Thank You, Jesus, for enduring the Tree so that we might have eternal life.
Safe travels to Texas and blessings over your “share” there,
Jan Neal
jan-john3.16@cox.net
Ahhh, I love that, Alicia! What a wonderful reminder to let God speak in to – even – the distractions. I mean, they’re there, so might as well let them be a breadcrumb into His presence, right??? 🙂 I surround myself with shells . . . beauty, uniqueness, creativity, treasures . . . if God can make such exquisiteness out of the covering of a – basically a – slug, then, what kind of goodness is He up to in my life???