QUADRIVIUM

There are many times when I sit down at the keyboard to write that I just end up sitting there, staring at the cursor.  I can’t write because I just don’t feel like it.  The words just aren’t there; the familiar rhythm of the narrative is nowhere to be found. 

The same thing, I believe, occurs in other disciplines, whether it’s reading the Bible or exercising your abs.  It’s why so many people drop their resolutions three weeks after New Year’s. 

A friend of mine approached me once, Bible in hand, a smile on his face, and he said, “You know, you can’t hunger for the Bible unless you read it.” 

Good point there.  Especially in light of the attention Mother Teresa’s legacy has received over the recent revelation of her struggles.  The struggle to believe is something every sincere believer faces at some point.  John Wesley suffered for years pondering whether the Gospel he preached every week was even true.  J.K. Rowling has illustrated her own struggle to believe through the final volume of Harry Potter.  I struggled similarly about three years into college.  And the difference, I believe, comes in the exercise of doing.  Just believing.  Just reading.  Just writing.  Usually, you can emerge on the other side free of the struggle, hungering for more. 

Remembering that encourages me.  After all, John Wesley made it to Aldersgate.  Harry made to King’s Cross.  I made it too, though the place doesn’t really have a name.  And I still struggle at times.  But I keep going.  Because when I do, like when I write, I can feel His pleasure.