I write because....

Today was another marvelous day at FHWP. Spending hours each day in a freezing classroom would be unbearable if it were not for the fantastic group of educators that gather there. As we share our hearts and our minds and our writing, we are being transformed into the writers and the teachers of writing we hope to become.

Today's writing prompt began with the song "His Eye is on the Sparrow." As a take off from the phrase "I sing because I'm happy; I sing because I'm free!" Judy challenged us to respond to "I write because..." This is my response:

Last night when I was reading from Because Writing Matters, I was struck by several things. For one, writing slows us down. (P. David Pearson, p. 34) It does! It slows down our thinking and our movements and requires us to wait. Wait for the thoughts to form, wait for the ideas to slide down my neck from my brain to my arm to my hand to my fingers to the pen or the keyboard.

And when I do this, I realize many things. I write because I need to. I write because I must. I write because I can.

I need to, I must, I can slow down. I need to, I must, I can let my thoughts follow one coherent path for a time instead of flitting from one thing to another. I need to, I must, I can wait for my heart and my head to find synchronization so that my life is comprised of one song in harmony rather than several tunes jangling around at once.

I read one time that an unexamined life is not a life worth living. Writing is all about examining my life, pondering the questions and savoring the certainties that exist in my heart. When I sit at my desk with my Bible, my Picadilly journal and blue Sharpie fine point pen, I make a time and a space that is sacred, even if just for a few minutes. Sometimes I compose my own words; sometimes I simply copy the words of someone else. But every pen stroke records something from my soul, and shows me what I need, what I must do, and what I can do.

I write because I need to. I write because I must. I write because I can.