In Praise of Fallow Fields

Photo Credit: Nico Ehmann on Unsplash

It feels audacious to say, but I no longer struggle with writer’s block.

In fact, the essay and poem ideas jotted in my pocket-sized Moleskine brim so full, I lack the time to enflesh them. Why this intense fertility of thought? I sometimes wonder.

It could be my voracious reading habits. Or perhaps it’s all those writing hours constrained to my son’s naptimes and the occasional Saturday afternoon. Maybe it’s pure grace.

Lately, I’ve wondered if it also has to do with letting the fields lie fallow.

It seems counterproductive to leave profitable fields unplanted and uncultivated, to let them simply be. From what our limited vision can perceive, rest seems a prodigal waste. The land, often abundant in soy, corn, and wheat, nourishing bodies across the world, now lies useless—dead.

To be honest, rest in my creative life is something I tend to resist. Like many creatives, I cannot afford to consecrate the bread and butter of the day to my craft. As a former full-time teacher and now a full-time mom, my writing hours have been confined to strict margins for all of my professional life. How could I possibly give up those precious few minutes engaging in what I feel deeply called to do?

But letting the fields lie fallow roots in God’s heart…

Read the rest of my guest post at The Way Back to Ourselves here!