Cleaning Up

            Camellia

                                                         

My breakfast this morning was yummy. It consisted of buckwheat pancakes made with fresh blueberries and drenched with real maple syrup, turkey sausage (made my husband), and a steaming cup of green tea. I felt completely satisfied and was about to leave the kitchen when I noticed my husband washing the pancake griddle. I turned around and did my part to clean up the kitchen.

     

It's exciting to prepare food, especially when I can try a new recipe; cleaning up the kitchen when I am done is not nearly so much fun. I’d rather have my husband do that. Eventually, however, if I don’t clean up the kitchen, trying to create another meal will be frustrating; I won’t have the tools or space to make anything.

In the same way, It's exciting to sit down and create new paragraphs, stories, devotionals, articles, poetry, whatever; editing—like cleaning up my kitchen, is not nearly so much fun, but having a lot of half-finished or un-edited documents makes me feel as frustrated as having a messy kitchen. When I edit until I’m finally satisfied with something I’ve written, I feel genuine joy.