Yes, I’m forever collecting quotes. Ponder these miscellaneous few from the meaty files of C.S. Lewis:
Originality:
“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.”Truth vs. Comfort:
“If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.”Prayer:
“What seem our worst prayers may really be, in God`s eyes, our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling. For these may come from a deeper level than feeling. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when He catches us, as it were, off our guard.”Literature & Reality:
‘Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.”
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” ~Annie Dillard
I’m back. We took a brief roadtrip to Charleston, S.C., and thoroughly enjoyed our historical visit - minus the heat wave. Good to be home and have internet access again. We’re such creatures of habit. How have you been?
Annie Dillard’s quote prompts me to ask: How are you spending your days?
Nothing else profound or philosophical at the moment. I’ve got articles and reading to catch up on, laundry, and a birthday dinner to plan. If you have a good carrot cake recipe, do send, and I’ll love you forever.
Blessings on your new week!
Hi friends. I’m taking a mini-break to do some things with hubby. He’s recuperating well since the open heart surgery a few weeks ago and we thank you for the prayers. Feel free to browse around and drop a comment or two. I’ll post again next weekend.
God bless your week!
“Busy-ness…can be a way to avoid God, the meaning of life, and life itself.” ~ Sidney S. Macaulay
“I’m sorry I haven’t emailed or called, I’m just so busy I can’t think straight!”
“Well, I can’t get a CAT scan yet. I’ve got two deadlines next week.”
Do these busy people sound called or driven? Gordon MacDonald, in his book, Ordering Your Private World, describes characteristics of driven people. If I remember correctly, he described them as:
* highly competitive
* value accomplishments and results more than anything else
* strive for bigger and more visible endeavors
* try to impress people with their busy schedules
* spend little time on relationships with spouse, family, friends, and God.
Our society highly esteems the workaholic. And it’s easy to become compulsive. More and more we cave to frantic, exhausting lives, filling our time with important things, maybe, but not God’s best for us. Oswald Chambers urges us:
“Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ.”
What does this have to do with busyness? Well, if our relationship with Christ matters at all, we’ll desire His will concerning our vocation, avocation, and all our relationships. When we’re truly intent on setting our hearts on things above, we’ll check with Him before committing to projects. Sometimes we have to run out of fuel before we realize that He’s just not giving us the grace to go forward for a reason.
Are you sinking? Stop, drop to your knees, and lay your agenda on God’s altar. Let Christ help you discern the best use of your time. He teaches us how to prioritize, discern, and to even say no. With Him, we find time to nurture our relationships and stop giving busyness as our excuse for neglect. When Christ enables us to live out our calling, He not only releases us from the need to perform, He breaks the yoke of bondage when it comes to drivenness. After all, our needs and identity are met fully in Him. We don’t need bigger and better endeavors to feel good on the inside.
It’s a rat race out there. Life will always be a challenge. But with Christ, there is grace and peace because we’re following His path for us.
Feel the quicksand around your knees already?
Don’t panic. Pray. Then modify your schedule as the Holy Spirit leads. You may have to give up something ‘good’ for something ‘better.’ Trust Him. And remember: God’s agenda always has room for what’s truly important.
Just a tidbit today to hopefully inspire:
“The goal is to live creatively, not to experience individual creative events. Resist the pressure to create something artistic and perfect in order to prove yourself creatively. The goal of a creative life is expression, not perfection; you have the freedom to pour out your heart to God, regardless of how well you do it.” ~ Alice Bass, author of The Creative Life
“There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.” ~ Carl Sandburg
Are we stuck in our comfort zone? There are benefits, you know. But the cost of staying stuck may involve eternal consequences. Sometimes staying stuck means we’re unwilling to move forward because we don’t trust God with the outcomes.
Think about it. If we’re to live our calling, staying stuck is not a real option. Yes, pushing through the boundaries of comfort = change. And change is scary. But God can give us the grace and courage necessary to change all the habits that keep us stationary.
You are not alone.
“For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” ~ Philippian 2:13
I’m with you on this journey of change, my writerly friend.
“To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me.” ~ Colossian 1:29 (NIV)
And so I left you hanging a couple days ago in regards to overcoming our fear as artists. Let’s continue.
We’ve been so concerned about reflecting Christ perfectly, precisely, Alice Bass says, that we sometimes fear living creatively at all. She speculates on a solution: Do we live a “free-spirited life” and not concern ourselves with expressing the gospel? Or, turn our backs on creativity and “try to express every jot of Scripture”?
We could never explain the complete depths of Christ, in a body of creative work, nor a lifetime. We can’t fathom His depths, much less express them. But the one thing we do is abide. Our part is to be so intimately connected to our Savior that His life flows through us in everything we do. With that comes the freedom to express ourselves uniquely as He intended. It banishes fear. The joy is learning that He desires to infuse us with creativity, reach a dark and dying world, and amaze us with His grace at the same time.
But the fears come. We feel inadequate. We wrestle with the flesh. Bass offers her solution:
“Allow your tiny offering to reveal your heart, to express your hurt, and allow God to speak the entire gospel through that moment.”
Instead, we’re hiding behind a crisis of confidence. Not self-confidence, mind you, but God-confidence. We don’t pursue our gift more eagerly because we fear not doing Him justice. Our work might not accurately reflect His heart, we say. We’re afraid to venture out. It’s more comfortable to lament our shortcomings.
But hey, I’m well-acquainted with this fear. It’s p-a-r-a-l-y-z-i-n-g. I have to remind myself that fear never comes from God. It’s the spiritual booby-trap of the enemy. Fear comes when we focus too much on our limited abilities instead of relying on God’s grace. We let fear of failure, rejection, ridicule, and judgement cripple our craft.
Let these words settle in your heart:
“I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit” (John 15:16, NIV)
If He chose us, appointed us, prepared good works in advance for us, then it’s high time we stopped running from opportunities for Him to express His life in and through us as artists. It’s not our responsibility to be perfect; our responsibility is to abide. He will grow the fruit of our art.
“I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power” (Ephesians 3:7, emphasis mine).
It’s all GRACE, my creative friend. When you hit that wall of fear, think grace. Lean on the grace that first brought you to Him. He will banish the fear and ignite a burning passion for more of Himself. The art will follow.
Next post: Fan the Flame
“The purpose of a creative life is to delight in the abundant life in Christ and to offer your expression in service back to Him, for the glory of God and the building up of His people.” ~ Alice Bass
Writer and actress Alice Bass shares why she thinks it’s hard to find good Christian art. In re-reading passages of The Creative Life
“We Christian artists are so concerned about reflecting Christ perfectly and precisely that we miss out on our opportunity to share how Christ is working in our hearts. We fear that if we express ourselves artistically, someone might see a bit of our struggle, and we will have ruined the viewer’s chance to see Jesus.”
It’s the same with our living, she points out. We’re so afraid that we might not measure up or be precise enough in our “delivery of the gospel.”
Tomorrow we’ll explore the solution and how to overcome this fear. Feel free to chime in with your own thoughts.
Happy Monday, folks! Let’s begin this week with a few grace perspectives from the ministry of Don Whisnant at GracePoint:
“Your need to control is mostly rooted in the fear of what your circumstances would be like if you let go. Renewed confidence concerning God’s love and care to guide and support you will set you free.
Also, this:
“The work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal Truth to your understanding so that what you know is not limited to your attempts to intellectualize what others say to you. Human reasoning has no power to comprehend God apart from the light he gives.”
“Unhappiness is not the result of what’s present in your life, but what’s missing.”
To read further, surf over to GracePoint America today and peruse the writings there for some real encouragement.
Blessings on your week!
My friend Danielle at Bipolar Diaries posted a meme after my own heart. Join me if you like:
1. Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
I prefer the portability and ease of the paperback. Especially if I can fold the book and underline in it. Not to mention the price—paperbacks make my addiction a tad more affordable.
2. Amazon or brick-and-mortar? (buying online or in a store?)
Both. I appreciate the convenience of Amazon, and the book reviews, but I also like to get up close and personal with my books before purchasing. Besides, haven’t you heard? A bookstore is a writer’s best friend. The only thing that competes is the local library (but drats, you can’t mark up a borrowed copy!).
3. Amazon or the Co-Op Bookstore?
Until I find out what a co-op bookstore is, I’ll go with Amazon. Anybody know? And where, in Atlanta, IS one?
4. Barnes & Noble or Borders?
Depends on which neighborhood I’m passing through since I don’t live near either. I lean towards Borders—maybe it’s their cafe? Also enjoy Lifeway and Family Bookstores.
5. Bookmark or dog ear?
Bookmark mostly, but guilty of the latter. I will dog-ear a page only in desperation. Sometimes a passage is so profound but I don’t have a pen or highlighter handy.
6. Alphabetize by author, or alphabetize by title, or random?
Right now it’s random, baby. But I do group my books in general categories: spiritual/devotional books in one area, health and medical in another, fiction, nonfiction, etc. It’s the best I can do right now.
7. Keep, throw away, or sell?
I’ve never thrown a book away. Never. When I finally have to part with a book, I either give it to Goodwill, a friend, or trade it at the paperback trade shop a few miles away.
8. Keep dust jacket or toss it?
Most of my books are paperback, but my hardbacks still have their dust jackets.
9. Read with dust jacket on or remove it?
I didn’t know this was an issue with folks:-) Somebody with OCD must have thought of this question…lol.
10. Short story or novel?
Novel. I like a little more depth and detail when I can get it. They say that people’s attention span is not what it used to be, but a gripping story will keep me turning pages.
11. Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)?
I don’t typically read short story collections, but started reading anthologies when I decided to write for a few of them years ago. Reading different authors on a topic can be very enlightening.
12. Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?
Not my cup of tea—neither.
13. Stop reading when tired, or at chapter breaks?
Usually when my eyes start crossing. Which means the next day I’ll probably re-read where I left off when my eyes started to cross;-)
14. “It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?
I’m all for mystery and intrigue, so give me the first opening. “Once upon a time” sounds so, well, fairytale-ish. Guess I’m not into fairy tales. Unless, of course, I’m reading to my granddaughter.
15. Buy or Borrow?
I’m a pay-for-my-own-copy kind of girl. But I also borrow when a friend has something I desperately need to read but my budget won’t allow. Also borrow from the library for research.
16. New or used?
Used is just fine with me. Every year in February I used to spend the afternoon at the Goodwill Book drive. For about $5 bucks, I’d come home with a sack full of classics. A reader’s dream. I had to get used to reading other folks’ highlighted and underlined passages. It’s like crawling into the mental psyche of the reader before you.
17. Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation, or browse?
All three sometimes. Really. Mostly, when I’m looking for a particular topic, I scan the reader’s reviews.
18. Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
I’m reading much more nonfiction these days due to research and personal interests, but with novels—hey—when it’s good, I don’t want it to end anyway. I don’t care how it ends, just take me for a good ride and make me feel.
19. Morning, afternoon or night-time reading?
Mostly afternoon and night-time, but this gal reads at the doctor’s office, red-lights, and waiting in line. Give me a purse big enough to fit a book, and I’m there. A reader is a reader is a reader.
20. Stand alone or series?
Just give me a good book, period.
21. Favorite series?
Can’t remember reading a complete series. Tried the Left Behind books, and the Mitford series, but just didn’t have time to hang. I’m weird that way. I read to a different drummer, not the way-of-the-crowd.
22. Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
There is really no such thing as “a” favorite book to a bibliophile. There are many favorites. But I suspect, not many have heard or read A Tale of Three Virtues by Steven R. Mosley or Hannah Whitall Smith’s The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life.
23. Favorite books read last year?
Ah, so many favorites. It’s important to note Broken Minds
A Time of Departing
Tapestry: The Journey of Laurel Lee
24. Favorite books of all time?
Going back to childhood, Little Women
I’ll come back and add a few more.
