Don’t Be a Leaky Writer

by Martin Wiles @LinesFromGod

Slowly, we filed into the room—some rubbing their sleepy eyes. For months, no alarm had governed our lives. Summer vacation still tickled our brains. A few were already seated—eager, ready to get started. Most lugged a large cup of coffee or water or something. The session before us was long. Some of us brought iPads, and others carried notebooks. Our first teacher-in-service day was at hand. 

I was one of the eager ones. Every year, on the first day of our meetings, I anticipate our Head of School’s devotion. He’s a wise man for whom I hold deep respect. Each year, he gives us a different word for our school theme. So, I sat, anticipating what this year’s word would be. He didn’t disappoint me. Transformed. 

To illustrate the theme, he showed a circle of cups his wife had taped to a tray. Encircling the larger circle of cups was a circle of smaller cups. I noticed the larger cups had holes in them. 

When he brought out a water pitcher, I wondered what was next. But we had heard his devotion by this time, and I imagined I knew what was coming. The water filled the large cups—until it encountered a hole. Then, it quite naturally leaked from the cup. Nor could it fill the smaller cups because the holes caused the water to leave the cup before it overflowed. 

He ended with an application. We teachers and the other faculty were the large cups, but we didn’t need the holes. And somehow, we were supposed to overflow into the smaller cups—the students we taught. 

Paul says we need to allow the Spirit to guide our lives so we won’t obey the desires of our sinful nature, which leads to holes and interferes with overflowing. “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves” (Galatians 5:16 NLT).

But we don’t have to be teachers to learn from the illustration. We writers can also learn a thing or two. Just as God wants believers to channel the mercy we have received from him, he also wants experienced writers to leak into the lives of learning writers. Someone helped us; now it’s our turn to help someone else. We might do this through editing, a writing group, or one-on-one mentoring, but do it we should. 

In many ways, the writing life is solitary, but holes appear when we invest only in ourselves and forget about others who are on a similar journey. God has enough work for all of us. Our job is not to compete but to overflow into each other’s lives so we can send God’s message of love to the world through our words—words that are crafted as carefully as possible with God’s help and each other’s assistance. 

Holes appear when love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control don’t pepper our lives. And when the holes appear, we can’t fill up and then leak into the lives of others, or at least not to our full potential. God wants us to overflow, not leak. 

Think of ways to keep the holes out of your writing cup so you can overflow into the lives of other writers. 

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Don't Be a Leaky Writer from Martin Wiles (@LinesFromGod) on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Martin Wiles lives in Greenwood, SC, and is the founder of Love Lines from God. He is a freelance editor, English teacher, pastor, and author. He serves as Managing Editor for both Christian Devotions and Vinewords.net and is an instructor for the Christian PEN (professional editor’s network). Wiles is a multi-published author. His most recent book, Hurt, Hope and Healing: 52 Devotions That Will Lead to Spiritual Health, is available on Amazon. He and his wife are parents of two and grandparents of seven. He can be contacted at mandmwiles@gmail.com.