And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:2

Because I find it hard in a social forum like this to be transparent I rarely share my personal struggles. It relish safety as in the words of Paul Simon’s song, “I am a rock I am an island And a rock feels no pain.” But to pull the curtain back just a bit this morning I thought maybe someone else may benefit from my struggle this year to write.

About the beginning of 2017 I decided to write a full year of devotional readings. I confess that while it seemed a little daunting I figured that I could scoot through the work fairly easily. “After all” I told myself, “short devotional writing is what I have done for a long time.” While January – March did indeed fly by pretty rapidly I discovered some things about myself and about writing that I thought might be an encouragement to others.

Writing well is a lot of hard work! Not to mention leg cramps from hours at the key board and the frustration of trying to format material that insists on slipping out from under my control!

I am not really a professional writer in the way that a some in my family and a few of the readers of my blog are. I do have a degree in English but it feels like I just don’t get it, in a lot of ways and others seem to race ahead of me in accomplishing things I haven’t even thought of.

Everything of eternal worth must be learned first at the feet of Jesus. Filling pages with words, even words that people enjoy reading doesn’t accomplish anything if they don’t flow from the heart of God.

God loves me and is pleased with my best for Him even if it is not highly successful in the eyes of others. Twenty five years ago God asked me a question concerning my nursing home ministry, “Would you do it for one?” It felt like a light switched on in a dark room and I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a mirror.  Just what was the reason that God had sent me? Was it so people would praise me or think I was a pretty nice guy? Or did my heart join with the love of Jesus Christ for forgotten and abandoned people, one by one left alone wishing that someone could sit and spend a little time at their side?

So whether you are struggling to put words on a page, leading a small group or trying to get through to your kids, take a deep breath and sit down for a minute. Now relax, close your eyes if it helps and remember. One day Jesus Christ visited one single man by the pool of Bethesda. To this day no one knows his name but He was not forgotten by the master and neither are we. Few people may ever know your name but Jesus does. Now open your eyes, stand back up and get back in the fight! God loves what you do whatever the results when you do it all for Him; if only just for one