“Wisdom’s Key to the Future”
Dear writer, I hope you had a great week and began to explore channels of community and accountability for your writing life! This week, we’re going to look at developing your writing habit through ongoing learning. You see, here’s the thing, writer……
Nothing in life is static. All of our relationships, work, and talents can exist in one of three states. A state of maintenance where by regular use we attempt to retain our current level. A state of decline where by disuse we gradually lose ground. Or, a state of increase where through an intentional investment in ourselves, our skills, relationships, and opportunities we grow.
The good news is that it’s often not hard to begin investing in our growth! There are so many ways to cultivate our talents, relationships, and work as we move onward and upward toward our high calling in Christ as His writers. But before we jump in, let’s look at others whose commitment to ongoing learning transformed their life’s work…
Ongoing Learning in History
George Washington Carver is an excellent example of a man with a commitment to learning. Though Caver was a sickly child, he was continually learning with a strong interest in plants and growing things and a firmly rooted faith in God. When the woman raising him saw his potential, she encouraged Carver to pursue formal education.
Carver became the first African American man to earn a master’s degree in agricultural sciences, and he became a professor and scientist at Tuskegee University. But even there, Carver did not rest on his laurels. Desiring to help his people—many of whom were impoverished cotton farmers—he continued to pursue learning in agriculture and pioneered many innovations that revolutionized the farming industry, including crop rotation of cotton with soy and peanuts and the invention of over 300 uses of peanuts to create a market for the new crop.
You see, writer, creating an ongoing learning plan is really about seeking—as Carver did—continuous improvement to better serve and engage those you are called to reach. Carver was continuously perfecting his methods and innovating ways to help poor farmers of the South. As a result, he became a leading agricultural expert and sought out by presidents and leaders across the globe.
Ongoing Learning in the Bible
Joseph is another great example of a man who had an ongoing learning plan! It seems that regardless of the situation he found himself in, Joseph had made a personal commitment to learn and understand all he could about the people, processes, and systems around him to help things run as smoothly as they could for everyone. As a result, God was able to position Joseph for promotion at the right time, because Joseph was already prepared—not just to interpret Pharaoh’s dream—but to know the workings of Pharaoh’s government and to competently step in and prepare the nation for crisis.
You see, writer, creating a plan for ongoing learning also positions us for unexpected opportunities, so that when God opens doors, we can walk through them with confidence. And here’s the thing… Lest you be tempted to feel unworthiness or false humility rising up, thinking, “Well, I don’t expect to do anything that big…” Realize that we serve a big God. When God chooses to promote us, it’s because He has a plan to touch lives in ways beyond our comprehension. Just like Joseph’s bold “yes” to Pharaoh saved, not just Egypt, but every surrounding nation including Joseph’s own family.
Ongoing Learning in Life
I began to invest in ongoing learning when God first called me to be a children’s leader in Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). I confess my initial response at the time was, “I only teach adults.” But when I saw that being a BSF children’s leader was not about child care but about truly teaching children—starting as young as three months old—to understand who God is, that His Word is true, and how to come to saving faith and ongoing relationship with Him, I was hooked.
Through my engagement in BSF God set me on a path of continuous growth regarding child rearing, as I learned more and more about how to continually learn, understand, assess, and disciple the children He was bringing into my life. Including my eighteen—soon to be nineteen—nieces and nephews! Now I grab opportunities for that growth, because here’s the thing…
Ongoing Learning in Your Life
The learning I am doing, writer, is having an impact on the next generation. Likely, in ways I could never imagine. But guess what? So did Carver’s learning. So did Joseph’s. And so will yours. And here’s the beautiful thing: any time we invest in our growth to reach those God put in our hearts, we are planting the seeds for their growth, too. Let me show you…
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- Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. – 1 Timothy 4:14-16
- The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ – Luke 19:16-17
- And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” – Matthew 13:52
- Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord: – Psalm 102:18
- In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. – Ecclesiastes 11:6
You see, writer, when we invest in our growth and learning, we not only grow our skill but expand the ways and capacities in which God can use us. As we cultivate hearts that can grow and release God’s word and stories with skill and excellence, we have no idea just how far God will carry those seeds and what hearts His spark of love and life will ignite.
Just like Carver never conceived of his knowledge would impacting the nation of India and gain him an audience with Gandhi. Just like Joseph never imagined he would rescue his own family through his faithfulness to help Egypt. Just like I can’t calculate the outward ripples of the impact made in the lives of children and those they will touch.
Where to Start with Ongoing Learning
So are you ready to begin creating a plan for ongoing learning for your writing? Here are some ideas to get you started!
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- Asses Your Writing. Prayerfully assess your current writing level. You may already know areas you are weak in, but we all have areas of weakness we are unaware of, too. After noting areas you know you would like to grow in, I encourage you to submit your work to friends, family, and other writers. Their feedback as readers and as professional can be very illuminating and give you a framework of where to begin focusing your efforts in your learning and writing journey.
- Consider Opportunities. Once you identify areas for growth, investigate what opportunities may be available for learn those skills. Is there a webinar you can watch? A class you can take? A book about the topic that you can read or a blogger you can follow? Create a short list of opportunities you can take advantage of. Then create a plan of when and how you are going to read, watch, or attend these opportunities and schedule them on your calendar.
- Plan to Practice. As you learn, I encourage you to make notes in a journal or word document of the things that you want to remember and practice. Then, set aside time to practice those skills and techniques. Maybe you should schedule some simple writing exercises to hone a specific skill. Maybe you’ll want to a chapter of your manuscript with a particular issue in mind. Whatever you learn, planning a time for practice and implementation is key.
- Consider a Professional Editor. One of the best ways to create a plan for ongoing learning is to submit your work to a professional editor. You see, writer, getting our work evaluated by a professional editor is one of the best ways to discover our writing blind spots! (We all have them!) Especially if you are planning to publish your work. And here’s the thing…
If you’ll notice, writer, they way we grow in influence is actually by growing in wisdom. And part of growing in wisdom is learning to take tried and true experience from others and to apply it to totally new situations.
After all, Carver took tried and true scientific methods and used them to invent 300 new uses for a peanut that revolutionized an entire industry. Joseph applied principles of administration to prepare a nation for the never-before-seen phenomenon of a worldwide famine. I am using both time-tested and innovative strategies to rear children to face a world unlike any we’ve ever seen. And here’s the real deal…
When we are willing to invest in our ongoing growth, it takes us out of ourselves to see how God is moving in the lives others and in our world right now, especially where He is opening doors to do things in a brand new way.
So I encourage you today, writer, if you have a call from God to write, don’t consider a plan for ongoing learning as just an option. Grab hold of the gift God’s given you and, with His help, intentionally invest in, cultivate, and multiply it to see not just all God intends to do in and you but what new thing He may be opening up to make you a channel of blessing to people, places, and generations beyond you, too.
#growth #wisdom #influence #glory #EveryWriterWriting
