Stirring up the Gift

In Friday's post I asserted that creativity is as much the artist's responsibility to stir up as it is God's divine gift to impart.

"You received a gift from God when I placed my hands on you [to ordain you]. Now I'm reminding you to fan that gift into flames." ~ 2 Timothy 1:6 (GWT)

I think the impartation can sit there unused. Uninspired, not on His part but ours.

One of my favorite female wordsmiths Shauna Neiquist agrees. She said: "I believe that inspiration is something that we create, something that we’re responsible for. I don’t believe in waiting for it to show up. I believe that being an artist means you live a life of imagination and inspiration, instead of sitting down at your laptop expecting it to show up at just the moment you need it."

Do you agree with Shauna?

What are you doing to nurture your gifts?

What does your creativity need now?

I've said many times that my driving aim when I swing my feet out from underneath the covers each morning is to craft a life that is pleasing to me and to God. (Well, and to my family along the way.) And I don't believe those are mutually exclusive goals.

For me at least, perhaps for everyone, I think a piece of that is creativity. We are made in the image of the Creative One. The One who thought up and spoke all things into being. The One whose breath makes my own.

At my center there is a creative life that presses to birth within me.

While this impulse is a gift of God, evidence of His image sparked by His indwelling, it is up to me to nurture and shepherd it. To behave as if inspiration is as much the artist's responsibility as it is a divine impulse.


Creativity, like spirituality, can run dry sometimes.  But when that happens, it is never due to any lack on the divine side of the equation. Rather, it indicates a break down of some sort on our end. A failure to nurture the gift, or to connect with its Giver.

Part of nurturing and shepherding your creativity is exercising it often. Daily even. Another part of it is providing it fuel. Seeking inspiration, ample but not overwhelming input, and new experiences or ways of seeing.

Connecting with the Author of creativity is also a daily thing, just so you know. Which I'm certain you did.

Else, running dry indicates a simple need for rest and fallow ground before the next growing season. While we carry the divine spark, we carry it in jars of clay. Regular rest is a requirement for every jar of clay.

So what is your creativity in need of right now?  Some nurturing?  Some disciplined shepherding? Or some rest before inspiration and production resumes?

Bring on the Holidays

I'm back from California where I reveleld in snow just a couple days ago. Even hiked through it on a trial through the redwoods at Nelder Grove. Very cool.

And I am now officially ready for the holidays to arrive.



Case in Point:

Last night I bought gingerbread-scented hand soap at Bath & Body Works.

This morning I made hot chocolate and tuned my digital radio to the Christmas music channel.

All the Christmassy commercials are making me smile.

I'm collecting recipes to try this Thanksgiving.

I'm having to resist the urge to skip decorating for Thanksgiving in favor of going straight to Christmas decor. I will probably have my tree up by Thanksgiving.

I'm also jonsing to paint my toenails holiday red rather than the iridescent brown that says fall.

Already read the Christmas story in the gospels - in prep for an upcoming message.

Finally, I'm ready to Christmas shop. What? you say. Well, I have to get an early start - both my children have December birthdays, and I'm sticking to a strict budget. So you see my need to get on this present thing.


Armed with my binder from Untangling Christmas from my girlfriends Karen and LeAnn, I'm ready to take on the holidays. How about you?

What do writers and their characters eat?

I'm heading out for the beautiful southern tip of the Yosemite valley. To get there I will walk through no less that four airports tomorrow, and again on Monday. That means I'll be eating a lot of airport food.  Or rather, I'll be stopping at a lot of Starbucks!

But, I'm looking forward to meeting the women of Trinity Presbyterian. And talking community with them.

For those of you able to walk into your kitchen and cook up something good, I've got something good my friend Nicole O'Dell and I, along with about 60 other authors, cooked up just for you, our readers.

 

It's a $2.99 eBook cookbook made up of recipes mentioned in various published Christian novels or books.  It's called Novel Morsels. How fun is that?

Not fun you say?

Well, I have a recipe in there called "The Lion, The Witch and the Meatloaf."

See, I told you it's fun.

You'll find several of my P31 sisters' books and recipies included in the eBook as well.

Now that your interest is surely piqued and your taste buds watering, go check it out. And I promise I'll tell you some more about it soon.  After my five-day trip to the west coast I'll probably be itching to come home and try some new recipe from the eBook.

Have a great weekend.