Ed Cyzewski’s “Pray, Write, Grow”

Prayer and writing may spring from the same spiritual impulse. They are certainly related, both being “leaps in the dark” – prayer may be met with ongoing silence and writing can be met with – ongoing silence, too. Both are certainly acts of faith, and say as much about ourselves as believers and writers as they do to God or the readers we are directing ourselves to.

Ed Cyzewski’s Pray, Write, Grow: Cultivating Prayer and Writing Together recognizes the relationship of prayer and writing for those of us who are Christians and writers. What he has created here is a kind of expanded devotional for writers, a work deliberately designed to stop us in our frenzied lives of cramming writing (and prayer) into every spare moment, of which there are few.

The book is divided into seven chapters: “Creating Space to Pray and Write;” “Learning to be Present;” “Do You Want to be Made Well;” “Breaking Through with Self-Awareness;” “Discernment Through Prayer and Writing;” “We Pray and Write by Faith;” and “Getting Started,” quick resource guides for both prayer and writing.  

Ed Cyzewski

It is a simple work. What strikes me even more than its simplicity is its gentleness. Cyzewski is gentle with his readers, which suggests we should be gentle with ourselves. It is not a daily Bible study, but rather a discussion we need to have with ourselves if we intend to grow in both our prayer time and our writing.

Cyzewski has written several works in the area of faith, including Hazardous: Committing to the Cost of Following Jesus; Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting God in Everyday Life; A Christian Survival Guide; The Good News of Revelation (co-author with Larry Helyer); Unfollowers: Unlikely Lessons on Faith from Those Who Doubted Jesus; Creating Space: The Case for Everyday Creativity; Divided We Unite; Why We Run from God’s Love; and A Path to Publishing: What I Learned from Publishing a Nonfiction Book. He blogs at Ed Cyzewski: Freelance Writer. 

Pray, Write, Grow is full of helpful counsel for Christian writers. And Cyzewski has the order exactly right: first we pray, then we write, and then we grow. And we grow in both.

Top photograph by Claudia Wehrli via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

And the word is...

I’ve been seeing numerous posts about “one word” – one word to describe your hopes and plans for 2012, or what’s on your heart for 2012. It sounds sort of New Year’s resolution-ish to me, and I don’t do resolutions (since I know how well I keep them).

But there’s a word that comes to mind.

The year 2011, as most years do, brought a lot of change – a major remodeling of our home; watching my grandson start walking and learning of a second grandson on the way; our youngest moving to Florida; my back problems which sidelined biking, travel and a lot of other things; and publication of my book – to mention only a few.

It was a lot of activity, but in my mind it was a lot of slowing down, and mostly because of my back. There were a lot of things I couldn’t do that were part of normal daily life (like putting up the Christmas lights, or gardening). I had to depend upon others to do things that I usually did without thinking. I had to plan things like the best time to leave for a work meeting in the building next door to mine.

My sleep patterns changed. Instead of going to bed at 11:30 or midnight, I was going to be bed at 10, or 10:30 at the latest. Things slowed down. And when things slow down, you have more time to think, consider and reflect. And more time to plan.

I’m already seeing how this year will shape up, and shape me. I know some things that are coming – some changes in what I do online (more on that in a few days), what’s going to happen with my writing, and family changes. As frustrating as last year was, I see it for what it was – a year to slow down and renew.

I see what’s coming for 2012, with my writing, my faith, my family and my work.

And the word is grow.

Over at Faith Barista, Bonnie Gray is asking what one word has God laid on your heart for 2012. To see other posts, please visit Faith Barista.