One practice I find helpful is to compose poetry about what the Lord seems to be emphasizing to me. Poetry is by its nature a limiting form of expression. I find that it forces me to think deeply as I search for just the right word to convey the nuance I am contemplating. It gives me an appreciation for how an infinite God limits Himself in order to communicate to and work through human beings. It also focuses deep thought and clarity because of the strict limitations. And it fosters humility by highlighting our inadequacies of expression.
Suppose, for example, that I decide to write an English sonnet about the Trinity. (You may recall that a sonnet consists of fourteen lines—three quatrains of four lines each and a concluding couplet.) The first quatrain could be about the Father, the second about the Son, and the third about the Holy Spirit, with the couplet expressing a summary statement about the entire Trinity.
Sometimes I find it helpful to construct sets of poems. For example, I have written poems on every section of the Sermon on the Mount and on every parable. In the future, I hope to write a poem on every book of the Bible. The length of the poems ranges widely, from haiku to longer poems of multiple stanzas.
Sometimes I set the poetry to music. Because I am not musically inclined, I look at the metrical index in an old hymnal and choose a hymn tune with the meter (i.e., number of syllables per line) that matches my poem. Or I do the opposite—I select a tune I like and then write a poem with the same meter.
Following is an example—a poem on the virtues of faith, hope, and love, written in long meter (eight syllables per line in iambic tetrameter, with a rhyme scheme of ABAB). There are many great tunes in that meter, so I have listed four possibilities. You could probably write something like this in ten minutes (remember, it’s for your own inspiration initially, not for publication), so this need not be a laborious process.
By faith we base our daily walk
Upon the things we cannot see.
Eternal things control the clock.
We live our lives abundantly.
In hope we daily overcome
The challenges that come our way,
Receiving comfort as we plumb
The promise of that coming day.
Through love we live as God commands,
With all our heart and all our soul;
In gratitude, for from His Hand
We have received our lives made whole.
[To the same tune as “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” (Waltham) or “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” (Hamburg) or “O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee” (Maryton) or “The Gift of Love” (Hal H. Hopson).]