Essay due? Prayer can help.

Got a paper to write?

It can be tempting to stare at that blank document with its blinking cursor and to think that you’re the one responsible for coming up with the brilliant ideas that will end up on the page. (Hopefully before 2 a.m.!) But this week’s TeenConnect author, Leyla Ghanem, offers a different take on the creative process, explaining how for her, writing has become more about listening to God, divine Mind, for the right ideas, rather than sweating, wrestling, and making a huge mental effort to get something on the page.

I appreciated Leyla’s piece this week since I’d already written about a dozen different intros to a dozen different potential pieces for this column—none of which seemed to work. I was praying and listening, just as Leyla describes in her article. And I was still drawing a blank. Finally I realized that my own struggles as a writer with very frequent deadlines have taught me some important spiritual lessons that are also worth sharing.

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

TeenConnect: UpFront
The tie that binds
TeenConnect: UpFront
The perfect selfie
TeenConnect: UpFront
‘An army of pray-ers’
TeenConnect: UpFront
#metoo
TeenConnect: UpFront
Prepared to help
TeenConnect: UpFront
You’re included
TeenConnect: UpFront
What matters most
TeenConnect: UpFront
Where do you live?
TeenConnect: UpFront
Who cares if I’m spiritual?
TeenConnect: UpFront
School shootings: What can we do?
TeenConnect: UpFront
Are you being manipulated?
TeenConnect: UpFront
Use your ‘superpower’
TeenConnect: UpFront
Stress-free—right now

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