The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium.  ~Norbet Platt

Well, I haven’t been writing in my journal but I have been going quietly nuts with so much to process and no way to do it.  I have discovered the value of writing: it forces me to move in a linear fashion through a problem, one word at a time.  You would think talking (or praying) would do this too, but think of how often you interrupt yourself with a tangent, tidbit, note, or other distraction.  When we write, we are compelled to follow one thread at a time.

Another thing we need to do is sort between the voices in our head. We have the one that tells us we are no good, that thinks dark thoughts, that calculates what’s best for Self and “hang everyone else”. We have the other that stands between this derelict and the Titanic world, which is an entity of both tremendous promise and unfathomable doom. The need is stupendous; who is sufficient? This better self says, “Here I am, Lord, send me.”  It says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  It says, “I am a new creature in Christ.” But the other voice tells us we have nothing to offer and offers several vivid proofs of past failure. How do we make sense of this?

It is that ‘put off–put on’ concept of Colossians 3: put off the old nature, and put on the new. So, is it an image we put on, a covering, an illusion? I pondered this as I rode my bike for two hours yesterday. Who wants to be tangled in illusion?  What is real?  Ah, that’s the thing–our change is real. We have a new nature in this body, this body that still contains the old.  Our old, utterly self-absorbed nature rots in us because it has been judged in the death of Christ, while the warm heart of a new nature beats in us.  We have a heart which is sensitive to the Spirit, replacing the cold, stone one that would not, could not acknowledge God’s rule over us.

So, being real means allowing our minds to be re-formed by the message of the Word, which says to reckon ourselves dead to the old way and new to an obedient life to our living God. Those who keep in step with the Spirit are expressing a real relationship with the Lord.  We have died, and we live in Christ, in whom our lives are tucked away in safety.

“For you have died and your life is hidden with God.” (Col. 3:3) It braces me to think He knows who I am better than I do myself, and that as I walk this journey He removes the dross and reveals who I really am little by little, so that by the end I will be both more Real and more reflective of His glory.

So, I put on not an outer garment, but an attitude that acknowledges the truth of this new nature I have through Christ, which is being renewed day by day into His likeness. I am a queen where once I was a snarling street rat. I am to remember I am a queen, and wear the beauty of holiness.

And maybe, just maybe, writing helps me get there.