Principles for preaching- Mazes and Brick walls

I find writing sermons difficult, a struggle, hard work.
I think people underestimate how much work goes into a good sermon (and into some bad ones too!)
The problem is, people think writing a sermon is like building a brick wall. Surely a twenty minute sermon is just a matter of laying one 1 minute brick after another. How long can 2000 words take?

The reality ( for me at least) is that writing sermons is like finding your way through a maze. There are all sorts of exegetical and hermeneutical wrong turns, you may take one early and have to retrace your steps. And then as you try to go from text into the world of your hearers, there are all sorts of theological, pastoral and emotional blunders you can make.
But here is what makes it really stressful.
Until you have solved the puzzle, you are lost.
You have absolutely nothing. Just some wanderings.

And then once you do solve the maze, you waltz your congregation through and (if you've done your job) they think 'that was easy'.

Some pastors, I feel, give up on the maze. They stop trying to find the exit, and instead build interesting, even entertaining brick walls. So they don't understand why you would find preaching difficult either.

I don't think preachers are alone in this. It happens with all creative work.