Sometimes a songwriter must pick up a new instrument to write a different song. If his accustomed instrument is the piano, he has developed habitual patterns of playing it when he writes. All his songs start to sounding alike.

Same thing about where you write. The worst place to write is your desk. It is usually cluttered and holds a hundred distractions. Unless you have a desk that is fairly clutter-free, one that you use exclusively for writing, it is seldom a good place to write and think. Try writing under a tree, or on small cards while you amble and stroll, or sitting out in a boat in the middle of a quiet lake.

One reason henry Ford was able to come up with so many product improvement ideas and revolutionary policies was that he seldom used a desk. Desk-bound thinking usually equals staleness.

Recently I read a statement which went something like this: "No one has ever had an idea while wearing a tie." Same concept. A tie is a badge of conformity. Has anyone ever come up with a single good reason for a man to wear a tie? To choke himself? Is it any wonder that so many people are choking on their jobs? They put on a choker when they go to it!

To get out of your creative ruts, try something different. Anything. Just break old habits and open up to a new flow, a fresh way of doing and thinking. Besides, it’s a lot more fun than setting at your desk re-stacking old piles of stale paper that you’d never miss if you threw it away.

POVERTY IS UNHOLY

Where did we ever get the idea that poverty equals holiness? That "spiritual" people are all supposed to be as poor as Job’s turkey? The wisest man to ever live (well, I wonder about that when I think about his 700 wives and 300 concubines) said, "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich" (Proverbs 10:33). Believe me, he had to be rich to afford all those women!

There is a simplicity movement in some spiritual circles that I appreciate. We all waste too much of the Earth’s resources. But how can we help the people and causes we love unless we have resources?

I like the phrase "enoughness." I think it was Joe Dominquez who coined it. After making a million dollars at a very young age, he retired from business and simply lived off his interest, devoting his life to charity and to teaching people how to do the same thing. He said we should sit down and figure out how much would be enough for us to live comfortable and happily, attain it, and then devote ourselves to the causes and project that move our soul.

Back to Solomon’s verse, note that it is "the blessing of the Lord" that makes us rich. I know some ridiculously rich people who are miserable. They have not found the blessing of the Lord. I also know some folks who have little of this world’s goods who feel rich because they have the blessing of the Lord.

I think of many of the years when I was a child and our family just had enough income to get by. We ate a lot of beans and greens and a chuck roast was a special treat. But I never felt poor because we had enough food and our home was full of love. See, we weren’t poor. We had enough. It meant I had to work to get through college and grad school and I am a better man for having the experience of making my own way.

If we will take whatever we make and consecrate it to the Lord, asking His blessing on it, we will have enough riches. For when He blesses it, we will spend it more wisely and lovingly.

Yes, it is the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich. And it is the blessing of the Lord that maketh one FEEL rich.