Take the Scenic Route

Yesterday I had a serious case of writer’s block attempting to complete a talk for church tonight. I prayed and I thought and I searched the Scripture, and piece by piece the talk started to come together. It came down to one final element, and I was getting nowhere.

And so what do I usually do when I’m stuck? That’s right, check my twitter. Or my Facebook. Or anything. And 9 times out of 10 this timely diversion leaves me just as stuck as I was before. But yesterday on twitter I saw something that helped. I follow Pixar on twitter, and their tweet simply said “Need Inspiration?” followed by a link.

Now, normally I wouldn’t click the link, but I actually did need inspiration, and the link brought up the picture posted above with the words “take the scenic route.” And so I thought about what that might mean for me, and I remembered that one of the things that helps get my creative juices flowing is a simple walk out of my office. Sometimes just getting away from these four walls helps to open up my thought process. So I went to the youth room and just started talking, like I would be talking tonight. And what do you know, the ideas just started coming out. God used a silly picture to remind me that often taking the scenic route often leads to the best pay off.

I have since printed that picture out and tacked it to my wall so that next time I get stuck I won’t have to check twitter to remember to take the scenic route.