The “Travis Writes Sometimes” Substack newsletter is now “Forbearing Abidance”!

What’s my deal?

You may be appropriately thinking to yourself that blogs about religion, culture, life, and other “social topics” are a dime a dozen these days. Do we need another voice in the cacophonous chorus of crap (alliteration intended) to give his opinions on stuff?

Frankly, no.

That’s why I have decided to focus my online contributions less to hot social topics and more to simply abiding patiently in God’s goodness, truth, and beauty; the things of God’s creation that are universally edifying.

What the heck does this mean?

What the heck is “Forbearing”?

The term “Forbearing” or “Forbearance” may seem familiar to those who regularly read scripture from the King James Version. You can find it in such famous passages as Colossians 3:12-13 alongside the powerful but titanic word, “longsuffering.”

Something I want this newsletter to focus on is patience; slowly consuming and digesting the things around me, keeping my eyes and mind on things above.

This means that my posts and newsletters will be significantly less topical and temporal, for my sake and yours. I may plan to focus on some seasonal elements of the spiritual life such as the waiting period of Advent or Lent fasting, but most everything else will be “evergreen” and universal.

With all that in mind…

What the heck is “Abidance”?

Do not misunderstand me. I do not intend to become a legal blog writing on “abiding” by laws and regulations. I mean “Abidance” in the archaic, biblical sense.

Google’s dictionary function shows that there has been a significant decrease in use of the term “Abiding” since the late 1800s. I think that’s a shame. “Abide” and its noun, “Abidance” are the best ways to describe what I believe is the ideal state of relating to Christ, God’s creation, and our fellow sojourners.

When we experience a taste of the totally fulfilled “Shalom” that comes as a result of seeking God and meditating on his good, true, and beautiful attributes, we “Abide.”

When we are in communion with Christ and Christ’s people, we “Abide.”

When you smell the petrichor and notice the sublimity of the dew on your garden’s rose petals, you are abiding.

When you think to yourself, “Wow, it’s so quiet up here,” when you make it to the mountain cabin you rented for the weekend, you are abiding.

When a Substack newsletter, film, album, painting, photograph, etc. makes you stop, sit, and think for a minute in this age of distraction, you are abiding.

When you sit with an older lady at your church and listen to her story of overcoming a long life of adversity by the grace of God, you are abiding.

When you are able to use your own life experiences to comfort a younger person having doubts about their purpose, you are abiding.

“Abidance” is all around us. I hope to capture some of my experience in patient abidance in this newsletter.

If you feel you can use a few minutes a week to also focus on abiding in Christ, God’s creation, and you fellow sojourners, I enthusiastically invite you to join me!