As I have been working on this research project paper for my Doctor of Ministry for several years, I have learned that writing is hard work. To sustain an interesting progressive argument over 220 pages is no small feat, at least for me. I have also been slow to apply a recommendation I heard early on, writing an hour daily is better than writing 4 to 5 hours just two days a week. And, procrastination is not recommended, so that you are not forced to write in large chunks of time.
In Robert Boice's book, Professors as Writers: A Self-Help Guide to Productive Writing, he discusses what productive writers have in common, "All of us have managed to be productive by devoting brief daily periods, sometimes no more than 30 minutes a day, to writing. Moreover, in my experience, this regimen requires giving up neither essential nor enjoyable activities."
A helpful blog by Jon Tyson comments on this:
"They cultivated the patience to tolerate the fact that they probably wouldn’t be producing very much on any individual day, with the result that they produced much more over the long term. Radical Incrementalism is the commitment to do the least you can do to make progress, not the most. It's learning to quit long before you are overwhelmed so that you don’t get exhausted and begin to think that what you are doing is unsustainable. It’s about consistency, not intensity. It’s a focus on the roots and not a scramble for the fruit."
Like writing, we can struggle with the daily discipline to meet with the Lord every day. Yet meeting the Lord for ten minutes a day is better than meeting him once a week for an hour. You do not need to expect your life to change in those ten minutes; you are tilling the soil and establishing roots in your relationship with God. Over the long journey, much will happen over the days, weeks, and months as you read God's Word and pray. You might stretch your time with him to 20 or 30 minutes, but you are not watching the clock. The point is that every day you sit down, communing with your Heavenly Father, and patiently seek him with seemingly little immediate return, as the Lord does his work in and through you.
Your focus is not on the fruit you will bear but the roots you establish. This past Sunday, from Psalm 126, we read "you reap what you sow." The focus is on what you are sowing in your life. "Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin." (Zechariah 4:10)
The same is true of a church community. There is no quick fix for growth. God may bring it, but as a community, our focus needs to be like the early church which established a regular pattern as in Acts 2:42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." Establishing regular habits also relates to our service to others. Galatians 6:9 reminds us, "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
Let's patiently pursue him daily and see the work that God will do over the next year.
