I’m entering into another writing season which means early mornings. In a nutshell, writing = sleep deprivation. Part of it is my perfectionism. Part of it is my imperfections as a writer. Writing doesn’t come easy for me. I literally measure every word. I can’t seem to write any other. I’ll spend an hour on a phrase. I’ll spend a day on a paragraph. I just don’t want to waste people’s time.

I’m praying the same thing for my writing as I am for my preaching: I want to be more prophetic. I don’t just want to speak timeless truth. I want to speak timely truth. I want to say the right thing at the right time in the right way. And there are no shortcuts to that. You’ve got to get up in the wee hours of the morning and try to listen to the still, small voice of the Spirit. There is no other way.