Well I’ve been offline for a while. I know my posts were pretty sporadic toward the end of 2022. In truth, I was feeling a little burned out. The day to day of pastoring and creating was taking a lot of time and creativity and something had to give, so I pulled back on the one thing I didn’t really have to do—this blog. That being said, it felt like something was missing, and I need to redirect. I am called to pastor my church and I pray I will be able to do that better and more faithfully each day. The truth though is I have another calling. A calling to help the church embrace creativity and creative people and to help the creative people to embrace the church. I think this is what was missing, so my plan is to return to blogging, daily if possible, but at least three days a week. I’m thinking I will move to doing more short, pithy, but hopefully challenging, thought-provoking and inspirational posts, interspersed with some of my art, and things I’ve curated from other sources that will get your Spirit led creativity flowing.
So for the first day of this new year, let’s dig in…
I love to read. I read a lot and I enjoy most of it, but there are a few books that are life changing. I’m reading one now that I think will end up in that category. There’s inspiration on nearly every page so far, and I’m probably highlighting too much, but it’s all so good. Have you ever read a book like that? The kind of book that would change things for you and maybe even the world. The kind of book that spurs you on to love and good deeds. Have you ever wondered, “Where has this book been all my life?”
Today I am going to answer that question, and hopefully this thought will challenge you as much as it challenges me. Do you want to know where that book was? It was in the author’s mind. It was put there, by a lifetime of experiences, lessons learned and on and on. The best ones were put there by no less than God. All that potential for good was locked away, until something miraculous happened. That author looked fear in the face and started to write, but they didn’t just start, and they didn’t just write. They went nose to the grindstone and they finished it. Here’s the thing a finished book isn’t finished until it is put out there for the world to see, and that step can be the scariest of all. Until it’s done, the book is nothing but potential. This is the truth of all of our creations. Having them in our heads is great. Getting them down on paper, or whatever media you use, is even better, but art is a gift. And a gift is not a gift until it is given.
What’s running around in your head, that the world needs to see? Faithfulness demands that you take what you have been given, finish it and release it to the world.
AMOKArts 