I have a new desk. A writing table, actually, to focus on the writing I need to get done. I still have the old desk, where I can do everything else.

But what if it doesn’t work? What if having a new desk doesn’t change anything, doesn’t help me finish what I’ve started?

What if I changed that question: How can I make it work? 

I know some of the answers. Only do writing at the new desk. Don’t check email. Don’t check social. Don’t do anything other than the work. Build a habit of going there. Clear everything off it. 

I’ve read enough habit books (I have a new one to read). But I think I need to reflect on what’s important in addition to building new habits.  

Here’s what’s fun about the new desk. 

It puts in front of me a ledge which has accumulated some frames. My ordination certificate. Our first Christmas photo with six of us (seven counting Chevy). A cross I’ve had for decades. A framed drawing that says, “in the silence of ‘not-doing’ we begin to know what we feel.” A photo from Hope and Dan’s wedding with the six of us laughing as we walk in the park. My dad’s ordination certificate. A shadow box of my first marathon’s memorabilia. 

It’s a remarkable collection of reminders of the things that matter to me, of the commitments I have made and the processes I’m committed to. 

And it puts me in front of the window, where you are. 

I, like you, have a tremendous collection of stories of the times things haven’t worked. They fill our thinking, they weigh us down. 

Maybe, by turning 90 degrees, by looking a different direction, by seeing the things that we set to the side because we wanted to keep them but didn’t have space to we can see that we have a tremendous collection of stories of the times things have worked, of the things that matter to us. 

How can I make my new desk work? By remembering the stories of God’s faithfulness and forgiveness, of your faithfulness and forgiveness, and of my own faithfulness and forgiveness. 

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Thanks to Andrew and Allie for letting me scavenge the desk from their old house.