Show Up.

Giving the time of day to the things that really matter.

I’m currently reading a book by Stephen King about writing. He gave an interview after the success of his first major novel, and in it, he was asked how often he wrote. His response was every day of the year except Christmas, Thanksgiving, and his birthday. In the book, he said he hadn’t been fully honest in the interview, and I expected him to start listing other days that he didn’t work. Instead, he stated that he actually writes every day of the year including those holidays, and especially on his birthday (to quote him, “At my age you try to ignore your goddamn birthday anyways”). He summarized why he was successful like this:

“Your job is to make sure [your] muse knows where you’re going to be every day from nine ’til noon, or seven ’til three. If he does know, I assure you that sooner or later, he’ll start showing up, chomping his cigar and making his magic.”

(He describes his muse as a whisky-drinking, cigar-smoking, cranky old man, but I think you get the point.)

If you want to do something well, you have to do it every day. To give you an idea of his success, Stephen King has written more than 65 novels, every single one of them an international best seller. Here’s the thing though. I do a heck of a lot of things every day. If I ever pull up my Google Calendar around people, they always gasp at how full it is. Honestly I kind of understand why, considering the thing is full from about 8am until 5pm just about every day of the week.

The modern world offers us more options than we know what to do with, and we as people often equate doing more things with living a better life. That’s how my schedule ended up so packed, and it feels like I never truly have time to stop. I read another book recently that challenged its readers to identify their primary objective in life, and to start planning their life such that it is directed primarily to that end, rather than being split in a billion different directions. It’s a call to focus on the one best thing so that we can actually be effective with it.

Almost two years ago now, I decided I was gonna read one chapter of the Bible a day. A while later, I figured why not make it two chapters. A year and a half later, this seemingly simple practice turned into reading four chapters out of the Bible, a devo on the Bible app, 10 pages each out of two separate books, journaling in the morning and at night, and keeping a to-do list of at least seven things, and doing all that in one day.

I watched a sermon this weekend called “Among Thorns” based on the Parable of the Sower. The main point goes something like this. A dude is scattering seeds for the crop he’s trying to grow, and it lands in a bunch of different places. Some end up on a path where birds eat it up, while others lands in shallow ground, where it grows up quick and then dies for lack of roots. The only ones that grows up strong land in deep, fertile ground. However, there was another place that it landed, and that was amongst thorns. Jesus later explained that seed represented the Word of God, and the thorns were “the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth [or success that] choke the Word.” (Matt 13:22b).

All of my spiritual disciplines, combined with my schedule, have made for a semester busier than any other. However, I’ve managed it all. If anything, I’ve been pretty dang successful, but throughout the semester I’ve felt far from God. Everything I’ve been doing has been really good (at least most of the time) but it’s gotten in the way of the best thing, and that makes the way I’ve been living my life pretty bad. Especially with my disciplines, what was supposed to show me God has been the very thing that forced Him out of the way.

It would be the equivalent of Stephen King taking on book signings and speaking opportunities until he had no time to actually write. Sure, that stuff is great, and he’d probably sell more books doing it, but those profits couldn’t outweigh the stories he would never have the opportunity to tell. I tried to write a priority list for myself earlier this semester, and ended up with seven things on it. Looking back at it now, if you prioritize seven things, you’re actually prioritizing nothing. This past weekend, I rewrote that list to include just three things. It goes something like this: 1. See God. 2. Love People. 3. Share Your Story.

For me, this means going back to the basics of connecting with God. Back when I started trying to read just the one chapter out of the Bible every day, I set aside a time to do it. It was just as I was getting into scheduling my life, and I started putting an hour block into every day to go to my room, read the Bible, and pray. I stopped doing that at some point to allow the disciplines to be a bit more flexible.

However, that time with God let Him change my life, and I know He’ll do it again. If all Stephen King has to do is show up for his crotchety old muse to work it’s magic, how much more will the God of the universe change us if we’re willing to give Him the time of day? With that in mind, you can consider me unavailable from roughly 4 til 5:30 on just about every weekday, and right about 1–2:30 on the weekends. I’d encourage you to do the same, even if it’s just 10 minutes. Believe me, it’ll make a difference.

Originally published at theforlornemoose.wordpress.com on November 9, 2016.