![](\"https:\/\/media.giphy.com\/media\/NG7lOZDAnxKtq\/giphy.gif\")
<\/p>\nIt\u2019s been a minute. Well, 525,600 minutes \u2014 give or take a few. (Do you have that song stuck in your head now?)<\/p>\n
Being a writer is a funny thing. One is free to call themselves a writer whether they have any skill in the craft or not. One can even call himself a writer if he never writes, I suppose. But after a while, one has to wonder, \u201cDo I call myself a writer simply because I can write? Or, am I ever actually going to get back to writing?\u201d At what point of fiddling with numerous other crafts, hobbies, and projects and neglecting writing does one cease to be a \u201cwriter\u201d and become simply a \u201cperson who can write\u201d?<\/p>\n
Hopefully that point is somewhere beyond 525,600 minutes. (Seriously, can you read that number without singing it!? That’s the only line I know of the whole song.)<\/p>\n
Time is relative isn\u2019t it? It isn\u2019t\u2026 but, it is!<\/p>\n
Explaining that is beyond the scope of this writer\u2019s ability, but boy do I know it\u2019s true. This time last year I was pumped up about a whole bunch of changes in motion and plans in place. I was pumping out words and thoughts (they go together with me) about new productivity routines I was going to be practicing and content I was going to be writing. I was scheming something fierce about desires my wife and I had, and we were pursuing things with some of the greatest clarity we\u2019d had in years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I was the cat we\u2019ve all seen that wiggles and bobs its head, then wiggles down through it\u2019s spine and through its tail while it gets its paws positioned just right before a big pounce. Eyes wide. Muscles tensed. My tiny brain about to burst with hope and expectation. I was poised to pounce. And then I leaped\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2026onto something completely different than I had planned!<\/p>\n
In the last writing I managed to squeeze out last year, as my new course was sapping every last bit of time and energy out of me, I wrote these words about the unplanned changes taking place, “In short, I\u2019m in a new job and trying to buy a new house in the span of just about two weeks. It\u2019s wild.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was not an exaggeration! But, though it was fast, it wasn\u2019t without careful wisdom and council. I went on to say,<\/p>\n
“In change like this, especially this quickly, there\u2019s always a lot of both loss and gain. I\u2019m still wrapping my mind around everything it\u2019s going to mean for future plans, and I don\u2019t have it figured out yet. However, one thing I know, is that it\u2019s made a lot of sense as a \u201cnext step\u201d when we, my wife and I, have considered the economics of all our desires together.”<\/p>\n
This is one of the things I love about writing, and especially blogging or journalling. It\u2019s good to look back and see and remember the thoughts, the feelings, and the steps you took. It\u2019s good to be reminded, and see with more clarity, how Biblical truths play out such as Proverbs 16:9.<\/p>\n
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.\u201d (Proverbs 16:9)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If Anything Goes As Planned, I\u2019ll Think Something Is Wrong<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s all so true. Now, here I sit, a year-ish later, writing a new post and humoring about how my plans haven\u2019t changed all that much and yet my life abounds with change. And, as I suspected, we have lost much and we have gained much. It would take hundreds upon hundreds of more words to try to explain what all those losses and gains are, and still I suspect we haven\u2019t even realized much of it.<\/p>\n
But, this is how walking with the Lord goes. If we believe Proverbs 16:9, and we believe Isaiah 55:8-9 \u2014 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord\u201d \u2014 then we shouldn\u2019t be surprised that as any given block of time passes we can look around to perceive that nothing is as we thought it\u2019d be.<\/p>\n
At this point in my life, if anything were to go the way I actually plan it to, I would have to think something is terribly wrong. I\u2019d most likely be walking in disobedience to the Lord.<\/p>\n
Again, last year’s changes weren\u2019t completely out of the scope of things we had considered. They just weren\u2019t what we would have said were the \u201cnext step\u201d until God was basically putting our feet on them. We also certainly had no idea the true amount of effort and cost they would demand. This was so true that I don\u2019t know if we would have chosen them at all, and yet, in retrospect now, I\u2019m really grateful for the demands, the costs, the gains, and, now, the new opportunities and insights because of them.<\/p>\n
Walking with God, and working hard in and at doing so, is the greatest adventure a soul can hope for. And, the more you do it, the better it gets and the more enjoyable it becomes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a bittersweet joy at times though. I\u2019ve never been accused of being complacent or apathetic in my life. So, because of this, and many other factors I\u2019m sure, my wife and I find ourselves starting this year in very different emotional, spiritual, relational and even physical (as in locations) places than we were this time last year. Some of those differences are purely exciting and some of those have sorrow mixed in with them.<\/p>\n
We foresee a lot of interesting changes on the horizon this year \u2014 way more than the one or two we were planning for last year \u2014and many of them are because of the unplanned steps the Lord took us through this last year. We\u2019re grateful. Yet, it hasn\u2019t been without some cost. Yet still, we\u2019re grateful.<\/p>\n
When God is doing the directing of your steps and you are walking in obedience to that guidance, you can know that even the costs, the losses and troubles, are for your good.<\/p>\n
In a sovereign turn of events, I began a commute at the end of this last year that allowed me to begin working through a book I\u2019ve hoped to devour for years. That book is \u201cFuture Grace\u201d by John Piper. I cannot recommend it enough. It was a superb book to end the last year and begin this one on. In this season of unplanned events and unpredictable transitions, one of the gold nuggets of truth that I came upon in it was this thought:<\/p>\n
If God is who we say we believe he is, namely good and sovereign, then we must necessarily believe that God only gives us what we would ask for if we knew everything he knows.<\/em><\/p>\n
Powerful. Such a tremendously powerful thought to meditate on.<\/p>\n
Onward And Upward<\/h2>\n
So now, as I start out a new year and a new season of life, I\u2019m not going to spend much effort declaring what I\u2019m doing. I\u2019m not even going to spend much time saying what I hope to be doing. To be clear, I\u2019m not saying it is wrong to do these things \u2014 within reason, it can be okay or even helpful. I\u2019m just saying the truth is that we rarely know what we\u2019ll be doing tomorrow. Not really. Especially not me in this season.<\/p>\n
So, for myself, I\u2019m declaring only two intentions at this point:<\/p>\n
One, I will write more, and often. Writing is my first and primary love of all the crafts and projects I do. It helps me to process, consider, enjoy and remember the way God orchestrates his will in and through me as well as everything and everyone around me.<\/p>\n
Secondly, yet primarily, I intend to “seek first his kingdom” with trust and contentment in all circumstances. It\u2019s easier said than done, but it\u2019s easier the more it\u2019s done. And, it\u2019s worth it. I look forward in the years ahead to looking back on this writing, and many others to come, and saying, \u201cYep. Definitely worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Onward and upward in course \u2014 excited for the unplanned, but pre-established, steps!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been a minute. Well, 525,600 minutes \u2014 give or take a few. (Do you have that song stuck in your head now?) Being a writer is a funny thing. One is free to call themselves a writer whether they have any skill in the craft or not. One can even call himself a writer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-development","8":"tag-update","9":"tag-writing","10":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2018\/01\/winding-staircase-min.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/i-could-write-a-book-on-that\/","url_meta":{"origin":639,"position":0},"title":"I could write a book on that","author":"Riley Adam Voth","date":"October 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Is it humble to play smaller than we are in an area so that others don't feel as big in an area?","rel":"","context":"In "culture"","block_context":{"text":"culture","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/category\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":387,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/vital-topics-currently-ignored\/","url_meta":{"origin":639,"position":1},"title":"A few of the most vital topics currently being largely ignored by church leaders","author":"Riley Adam Voth","date":"May 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I woke up to do some writing for different blogs and purposes but couldn't shake a few thoughts. 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