Author and pastor Mark Batterson packs a lot of wisdom into every written page. A few years ago I enjoyed his book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and currently I’m absorbing Draw the Circle, an excellent forty-day prayer journal. One of the chapters, “Go, Set, Ready” provides interesting insights that readily apply to writers.

Think about the juxtaposition of these words–go, set, ready. Backwards? Not necessarily, Batterson says, and I think he has a good point, especially in view of a new year.

Our normal modus operandi, the one most familiar at any rate, begins with getting ready, setting everything in place, and finally moving forward. But let’s look at this from a writer’s perspective. Does that always work for us?

Maybe not. Sometimes, trying to apply due diligence, we tarry too long on specifics and organize ad nauseam.  We get stuck in neutral as perfectionism steals momentum and time shuffles a worthy project to the bottom of our to-do deck with little chance of getting in the game again.

Batterson’s point? When we know in our gut that God has His hand on something and the time is now, then we must go with it. In the going, we find that He guides things into place, and then we achieve that amazing state of being ready. Or it could be that we were ready all along and didn’t know it. Or God by His failsafe grace may have already formed the proper foundation, and we are the ones holding back unnecessarily. Whatever the scenario, His timing is the most important component, and we must seek His heart to know what it is.

Has God been nudging you to write or finish a special project for His kingdom? Today I encourage you to remember that the word “now” is often a good word, perhaps even an exactly applicable word.

Maybe 2017 is the year you go. Write NOW, every day, no matter what. You just might be more ready than you think.

P.S. For some extra inspiration, try reading In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. Good stuff…