{"id":1588,"date":"2016-01-28T14:54:36","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T21:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikebellah.com\/wordpress\/?p=1588"},"modified":"2016-01-28T14:59:58","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T21:59:58","slug":"takes-faith-ot-write-and-teach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/?p=1588","title":{"rendered":"Takes Faith to Write (and teach)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mikebellah.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mb_color_bestyearsblog-150x15016.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mikebellah.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mb_color_bestyearsblog-150x15016.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"mb_color_bestyearsblog-150x1501\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1589\" \/><\/a>Takes faith to write. Also, to teach.<\/p>\n<p>Facing a blank legal pad or computer screen, writers must see what isn\u2019t there: the could be, might be,  will be.<\/p>\n<p>This morning I\u2019m throwing words at the page hoping something will stick. Sometimes nothing does. For a long time.<\/p>\n<p>When I do get a sentence that works, it\u2019s like the first piece of a jigsaw puzzle. I have some direction, but there\u2019s a long way to go.<\/p>\n<p>As other pieces fall into place, the faith that kept me in my seat is rewarded. The \u201ccould\u201d turns into \u201cis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Teaching is the same. Students are like blank computer screens. My job is to see the writer in them, and, eventually, get them to see her too.<\/p>\n<p>After many years of teaching, it\u2019s not that hard. I\u2019ve seen miracles before. When students tell me how much they suck at writing, I grin.<\/p>\n<p>I know God has made humans to communicate. And with practice and some inspiration, these students will write. And they\u2019ll do it well.<\/p>\n<p>Faith will become sight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Takes faith to write. Also, to teach. Facing a blank legal pad or computer screen, writers must see what isn\u2019t there: the could be, might be, will be. This morning I\u2019m throwing words at the page hoping something will stick. Sometimes nothing does. For a long time. When I do get a sentence that works, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1588"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1594,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588\/revisions\/1594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}