Persistent Pests
"Catch all the foxes, those little foxes, before they ruin the vineyard of love, for the grapevines are blossoming!"
Song of Songs 2:15
These little foxes aren't yet fully grown. Nobody would think a cuddly little fox would be dangerous to have around. They love nothing better than to eat the young grapes before they come out fully. Thus, they wreak havoc on the vines of our walk with the Lord.
Let's mention 5 of the "little foxes" or persistent pests that ruin some of our fruitful writing before it's fully ripened…
1.) Sensitiveness or easily offended. It can be a small chip on our shoulder but flare up if we're not given the respect we desire. It can stifle our creativity in writing and dry up the flow of the Spirit. Pray that we can have the mind and humility of Christ.
2.) Laziness. Too lazy to dig into the Word. Too lazy to spend time in prayer. This also leaks into our writing. The Kingdom Writer cannot afford to compromise in these areas if we expect eternal impact. There's a cost to those things and also a great reward.
3.) Living in regret. The most powerful 3 words in history were uttered by Jesus while hanging on the cross, "It is finished!" Regret sucks the life out of us and keeps us from moving forward in all that God has for us.
4.) Distraction. Causes us to go down rabbit trails. Social media is the major distraction of our day. One writer calls it "nuggets of nothingness." Before we know it, we've wasted 1-2 hours with nothing to show for it.
5.) Busyness. We fill up our days and weeks with good things. But somehow we fail to set aside scheduled writing blocks. Or when we do, it can easily be cancelled and replaced by something else. It's not treated as a priority.
The only way to handle these "little foxes" is to kill them. If we don't, our sweetest, most fruitful writing, like vine-ripened grapes, will not materialize.
Resources:
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