Now of course when we are doing our work to the glory of God, and when we are living out our call, the Lord inspires, empowers and strengthens us for the work. That cannot be denied and so I wanted to make sure I said it first, so there’s no misunderstanding. That being said, I run into people, and in fact I have been one of those people that expected that the work would always be easy, and in fact, almost magical. That is not the case. I’m not saying that God will not sometimes intervene and do more than we can ask or imagine, but for the most part there is no substitute for good, old-fashioned, doing the work.
It’s true. You don’t improve in your abilities by osmosis. You improve by doing the work, day in and day out. I know I may sound like a bit of a broken record on this, but the more you practice, the more you improve. Further, I have come to believe that creativity is almost muscular, in that the key to becoming more creative is doing more creative work. Look for a new solution, think differently, try a different medium, work in a different style. In short, exercise your creativity. Work out your talent. Do not become complacent. Try to become a little bit better each day.
Even as I write of this, I think of one of my all time favorite artists, the late Neil Peart, drummer and primary lyricist for the legendary rock band Rush. Throughout much of his 40 year career, he was widely regarded among the best rock drummers of all time. Rather than rest on his laurels, though. He took lessons regularly. He was a huge fan of the late big band drummer, Buddy Rich, who drummed in a very different style. Peart sat in with Rich’s band quite a few times playing a stripped down kit like Rich played, and he did a phenomenal job. My point in sharing this story is a simple one. Even someone considered by may to be the greatest of all time, had people he looked up to and so he continued to grow and branch out. We should do that too.
No matter how good we get, we can always be better, and the way to get better is not really all that complicated. We just need to do the work.
AMOKArts 