At our January meeting of Writing in Community, each of us wrote about our White Stone word. Some people had their word and knew exactly what it meant. Some had several words and were working out which one might work best. Still others had no word at all, just the hope we all have for clarity and direction in our lives.
One of the things I love about Writing in Community is how… communal we are. The atmosphere is creative, of course. But no matter who shows up, the group always thrives in a warm and generous spirit where we all feel safe and encouraged to dig deep, search for the truth we hold inside of us, and put it into words we can share with others.

We typically do two short writing sessions each month. This month, for our first session, we wrote about our White Stone words (or our process) in large, general terms. Everyone had something interesting to say. But things got more interesting when I suggested we go a level deeper, writing about one aspect of our word or the thinking we were doing to find it and settle on it.

Everyone produced deeply detailed and inspiring work. Some produced prose, others poetry; some wrote lists, other sentences. I decided to do my “writing” entirely by drawing diagrams. For me, the most interesting thing happened: all of a sudden everything I wanted to do with my word (which for this year is “create”) seemed literally to fall into place right in front of me. The whole year, every creative project I imagined, was sitting exactly where it was supposed to sit, in the order in which I would likely begin the work.

I rarely write so clearly during our Sunday sessions. But something wonderful clearly occurs every Sunday: people form intention, discover strength, cultivate hope, and renew their resolve. And they do it all in two 5-minute writing sessions that end up producing lovely expressions of the heart that we all appreciate.

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