From the Abundance

I think people are sometimes adverse to thinking creatively, or to using their imaginations because we are scared. We are scared because we are not exactly sure what is going to come out. In many ways this is the essence of the creative process, because if we knew the ultimate out come, exactly as it would be, it would negate most of the aspects of creativity that make it...well... creative. We could all just write "Concertos for Dummies" books and everyone could be a masterful genius. But because uncertainty is at the heart of creativity, it can either become the catalyst for something great, or it can cause the downfall of both the art and the artist. And that scares lots of people. Especially Christians with creative inklings.

"What if my painting somehow ends up not being pleasing to God?" "If I make things that are relevant to the world, they won't have a place in the church." "How can I give myself to something that requires so much of me and not become self-consumed?"

The answer lies in the heart. The bible tells us that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." I think too often we read this verse and think of all the movies with bad words that we have ever seen and just know that someday one of those words is going to slip out of my mouth and I am going to go to hell. Well, it probably does mean something like that, but I believe it works the opposite way as well. If we devote ourselves to continually desiring to please God and to be close to Him, filling our minds and hearts with His words, than what comes out of our mouths, or in our actions, or in what we create, will be birthed out of what we love. Instead of worrying so much about what is going to come out of our imaginations, we need to spend our time thinking about what is going into our imaginations.