Artists at a Shift in Time
~ Excerpt from Artists at a Shift in Time: Courage in a Time of Conflict and Change by Christ John Otto.
“Leonardo da Vinci was ahead of his time.
So was Vincent Van Gogh.
And so was Pablo Picasso.
And so is Ricky Raccoon, an artist on Tumblr,
and about a thousand
other people I found
when I did a quick search online for the words
“Ahead of his time.”
For hundreds of years,
artists have been described as
being “ahead of their time.”
Usually this cliché
is applied after the artist has died,
and after
they were misunderstood
by the conventional thinkers around them.
And as we all well know,
after their death,
the works they produced
sell for millions of dollars.
Lesser men
and weaker minds
benefit
from the ones who appear to be ahead of their time.
Picasso once said
that every act of creation is first an act of destruction.
He was talking about his mission as a “modernist”
to tear down the culture he inherited
and release his particular vision on the world.
Thinker Paul Kingsnorth
describes this process as the “great uprooting.”
It seems that the job of an artist
in the past one hundred years or so
was not the building
and establishing of something,
but rather,
the destroying
of everything that came before.
The best way for us to understand this
person who is ahead of their time
is to go on a journey into the wilderness.
There are trees,
mountains,
rocks and rivers,
and unknown things we are going to discover.
History and culture
are like a road being cut through the wilderness.
Most of the people walking
on this road find it to be well worn and smooth.
And most of them look for the easiest way to walk.
We call this the “path of least resistance.”
And in school, and in society,
most people learn to take this path,
and to avoid taking risks
or upsetting the way things are.
This easy place is “how the world works.”
These are established systems,
and by the time the majority of people—
the conventional thinkers—
come to that place in the road,
the system is well established,
and often
there are well known short cuts
that everyone has begun to take,
and those short cuts become
what we know as
corruption
in the system.
Many conventional people mistakenly think
that these roads just happen,
and ignore the price,
the risk-taking,
and the personal sacrifices brave individuals make
to establish a civilization.
Because of this mistaken view,
the vast majority of the people
on the path
have been taught
that to go off the path
is too dangerous to try.
“Stay in line.”
“Keep your head down.”
“Get a real job.”
“Don’t make waves.”
“Go along to get along.”
This is the way to a reasonably successful life.
And of course,
the worst thing a person can do is go off the path—
because there might be dragons in the woods.
At the front of this pack of people
in the woods
is a small band
of courageous souls.
These are the ones who, at
the same moment as the mass of people
are walking far behind them,
are surveying the terrain
and paying attention to the situation.
These folks are following
a narrow pathway
in the woods.
They are looking for ways to cross rivers,
and ways to get over rocks.
They have come upon grizzly bears and rattlesnakes,
and they are coming up with solutions.
These are the creative men and women who understand
that the world is a sea of problems,
and they have to first identify the problem
and then create a solution.
Although the mass of followers see them ahead,
they have no interest or understanding
in what they are doing.
In fact,
the great pack of people
are yelling to those up ahead.
“Hey you, get back in line!”
“Who do you think you are?”
“You think you can leave the pack and run ahead!”
“What you are doing is really irresponsible
and making us all look bad.”
Now let’s think about time again.
These two groups of people are on the same road,
and they see one another.
Look at your watch.
Notice,
they are living at the same time.
That group of artists and creative people is not
running ahead of their time;
they are running ahead of the pack.
They are living at the same time as the conventional crowd.
They are accurately seeing the problems and issues
of the times they are living in,
and they know that there is danger all around.
They know there are cliffs ahead that the whole crowd will fall off.
They know there is a rotten log that
someone once used to cross a river,
but that the mass of followers
behind them
is heavy and slow.
Those folks
will need
a bridge.
They know that the workarounds in the system
are now so corrupt that they are no longer helpful.
These folks are accurately understanding the times they live in.
They are, as the Bible describes,
like the sons of Issachar, who rightly understood the times they lived in.
The sons of Issachar were not prophetic;
they were observant.
These folks are not ahead of the time,
but are rather living keenly aware of the moment.
And most of the people in the pack are
either not thinking for themselves,
trying to get by day to day,
or simply are not interested.
Because the pack dwellers are the majority
they create the illusion that they represent the times.
They do not.
The pack is behind the times.
They are using roads someone else built,
and systems someone else created.
They are behind the times, not in them.
This perspective is the largest audience,
and so, mass media,
mass marketing,
and mass communication
puts the focus on them.
And this reinforces the perspective
that these are the times we live in.
It is an illusion.
Now look at this from another point of view.
Let’s take an aerial view of the situation.
Deep in the woods,
way ahead of the group of creative people
is another group.
Some of them are alone,
and some of them run in little groups.
They are listening to God for themselves.
And God is leading them into deep and dangerous places.
These are the scouts and the pioneers.
These are the prophets and the apostles.
These are the ones
who are cutting a little path through the brush,
so someone can follow.
And as they walk into the unknown,
they discover an ancient pathway,
and learn that there is One who has been here before,
and that the ancient pathways never get old.
To the creative men and women
these forerunners are interesting and intriguing.
But to the pack of conventional thinkers,
they are wild-eyed crazies.
These are the ones who,
if you listen to them
will destroy everything you have come to know.
The creative people know
that the little path they found,
and the makeshift solutions along the way
were left for them
by the prophets and apostles.
The forerunners give direction
and show the way for everyone else to follow.”
Christ (rhymes with "wrist") John Otto is the leader of Belonging House, a relationship-based community of Christian artists called to raise up an army of artists who will build Jesus a throne in the earth. You can receive his Friday email at https://belonginghouse.org
The Lord needs it.
Drawing by Nancy Rodriguez
I read these words on Palm Sunday. Normally within this story, I would focus on the palms waving, the people fulfilling prophecy in their shouting to the “Blessed One who comes in the name of the Lord.” But during this particular reading, my attention shifted to these words, spoken in reference to the colt the disciples were on errand to find:
“The Lord needs it.” Luke 19:31
I was stuck. I guess it blessed me to know that even though the Lord owns everything, he needed something. I’ve heard many, many people say, “the Lord doesn’t need us to accomplish his will.” Yet, he needed that young donkey that day. He needed the upper room for his last supper, and he even needed someone to give him a drink.
Poignantly, he said, “I thirst.” John 19:28
The living water, who quenched my thirst forever, fulfilled the last bit of prophecy in uttering those piercing words. Several prophecies actually, and when his lips had touched the wet sponge of watered down wine, he knew he had perfectly completed his work on the earth. His next breath held and released a most powerful statement,
“It is finished.” John 19:30
Heaven and earth are so intertwined. It is extremely easy to see this in art. A human vessel pulls, as if from the air, inspiration and where once there was only a blank canvas, now exists a creation. The divine manifested in the natural but not without the necessary items.
The miracle of the fish and loaves so beautifully paints this picture of the normal, the natural, even the minimal betwixt with the heavenly, to produce a life giving source for those that were there that day. Heaven and earth intermingle to satisfy a human need. One and the other in “need” of each other, ascending, descending to see that the perfect will of God is expressed.
It breaks my heart each time I think of complete separation of heaven and earth, the moment Christ cried out (in a loud voice),
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Mathew 27:46
The only time Jesus called him “God” and not “Father.”
That is incredible. Never had the Holy Trinity been severed. In this most desperate moment, Jesus became sin and the Father turned his face away.
Yet some of us cope this way daily. Without God, without our Father. The Son, for all time, had perfect union - until this very dark hour. No wonder the earth became dark. No wonder the ground trembled, the sky cried.
If you’ve ever felt as though your prayers hit the ceiling, remember that there is no ceiling that heaven can't penetrate. The Lord can meet your prayers there.
One of the teens we have built a relationship with, wrote to me during the Sunday service,
“I feel terrible and I think God hates me.”
As we normally do in the teen pew (as if I were a teen, even) we draw. So I drew on her note. And my drawing had a word bubble that said,
“It would be strange for God to hate you since he gave you his Son.”
And another bubble said,
“If he hates you then it would be weird for the Son to die just to be with you.”
Friends, let your simple and small be mixed with faith. God can use that. Whatever “that” is. It might be time spent listening to a friend at a cafe, a talent or dream that you are developing one day at a time, a small living room that you can host in, a text of encouragement to a person you normally don’t chat with, a car that you can use to bring a college student, or an elderly person to church. In fact, to accomplish some of his glory, he might “need” some of what you’ve got.
Rejection, Adoption, and the Redemptive Power of Jesus: A Lent Reflection
By: Kim Delp
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. And so after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. Then he had relations with Hagar, and she conceived; and when Hagar became aware that she had conceived, her mistress was insignificant in her sight. So Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I put my slave woman into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was insignificant in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me.” But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave woman is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence. Genesis 16: 1-6 NASB
Additional verses for reflection: Psalm 22:23-31; Genesis 16:1-6; Romans 4:1-12
About 15 years ago, my husband and I made a conscious decision to start trying to have children. We were so excited to begin the next part of our journey. The next journey was one of infertility. I know many know this journey. It is hard and painful in all ways; physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It can break you and make you feel broken. So this passage is very relatable in so many ways for me. I have felt the weight of not feeling fully identified as a woman because I couldn’t do what my body was created to do. I have felt the urgency of wanting the process to speed up. This can be agonizing as month after month you check the tests, and they are negative. Praying before and over each one for THIS one to be the one that reads POSITIVE and then feeling the pain and even shame month after month when it is negative. I believe Sarai felt all of these things and more. During this time in history and, even now, so much of a woman’s worth is found in her womb. Even though it was Sarai’s idea for Abram to take her slave in the hopes of building up through her the promise God had given to Abram. I can’t imagine though that she did that willingly. I just imagine the utter shame and rejection she must have felt as she gave Hagar to Abraham.
Hagar on the other hand likely carried a different shame and rejection than Sarai. Her name speaks to this, meaning, “flight” or “forsaken” in Hebrew. She was a slave, a foreigner, living on the margins with her life in the balance and the hands of Sarai. I’m sure she had little control over what happened to her, the least of which, was being forced to bear Abraham a child as a surrogate. Forced into fulfilling a promise that was not hers.
The rejection that both of these women must have felt was very different, but the intersection where their paths crossed was similar; the womb.
Imagine Hagar sitting with her hands on her baby bump wishing this baby had been something within her control and Sarai sitting with her hands on her empty belly wishing that her barren womb was within her control. Both were sitting in their rejection and powerlessness in circumstances beyond their control.
BUT GOD…
The story of Sarai and Hagar is bigger than this one excerpt. It is the story of their adoption, not rejection. We don't see the whole picture in this small piece of their journey, just as Hagar and Sarai didn’t. They were throwing power back and forth when they had it and used the power they had.
As 1 Peter tells us in 2:4-5 as well as Romans 8:15-17, we are chosen and adopted into His kingdom.
As with our story of infertility. it doesn’t look as we expect it to, but it looks like God always created it to be. Parts of our journey aren’t the whole of our journey. We see that God’s redemptive work in our lives and the lives of Sarai and Hagar do not look like they imagined. But Jesus redeems it all. In this season of Lent, as we journey to the Cross with Jesus, remember that our stories are stories of redemption, not perfection, but redemption. Redemption, or apolutrosis in Greek means the work of Christ on our behalf, whereby he purchases us, he ransoms us, at the price of his own life, securing our deliverance from the bondage and condemnation of sin.
Jesus redeems us and our stories to speak and live into our adoption into His kingdom, not to stay in our places of rejection.
It is easy for all of us to remember or reflect on a time we felt rejected. Maybe you are in that place right now or maybe you will be in this place in the future. It is easy to stay in that place of rejection which leads to other things like depression and bitterness, I encourage you to speak this over yourself in those moments:
I am known, seen, cared for, redeemed, forgiven, and loved by Jesus Himself. I am a child of God and I receive the spirit of adoption.
Here are a couple of songs to focus your mind and heart on today.
PRAYER:
Redemptive God, you have called us out of places of rejection, pain, and sin to be chosen and adopted into a holy priesthood. We are God’s prized possession and declare His praises being called out of darkness into his light. May we live into this adopted life not timidly, but boldly experiencing and sharing this light with all those we encounter. Amen.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kim Delp is a wife to Joel, mom to Simeon (13), Esther (9), and Ephraim (8), and serves in Ecuador, South America as a missionary.
She is a Family Nurse Practitioner and the Co-Founder of the Santiago Partnership which partners in Ecuador to start medical clinics, Homes for At-Risk Children, and different community-based programs to work herself out of a job. Her passion is empowering women to see their value and worth and to use their passions to experience both of these things. She has only realized recently that writing is something that shows her identity and worth in Jesus. She is a lover of coffee, experiencing nature, and being with people in authentic ways. Learn more about the Santiago Partnership at https://www.santiagopartnership.org/
Parenting as a Creative Act
This post references parenting and not all of us are parents either by choice or circumstances. Please know that if you have lost children, or the journey to parenthood has been blocked, I mourn with you. Whoever God has placed in our lives to nurture, child or other blessed life, may He give us the creativity to do so well.
“We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.” (Cameron 1992)
We are creative beings. As artists, it is easy to believe in God-inspired creativity while artmaking, but every part of our lives—including our parenting—can be a creative act. What would it look like to consider our parenting as artmaking?
There are “beautiful” parenting moments: when cradling my daughter, or when my toddler hugs my neck and whispers, “I love you, Mommy.” I long for those moments, but there are so many “just-get-through-the-day” moments too: stress, anger, yelling, spilled juice (again), lost toys, and all-night sickness.
Rather than falling prey to endless scrolling for that “perfect” activity or trip for our children that will create that “perfect” moment, let’s dive deeper into what creativity in parenting looks like when motivated by God’s creative Spirit.
As artists, we develop our “internal ear.” We carve out time to listen to our soul as we create so that we don’t miss out on inspiration. Time is a scarce commodity for parents, but what if we brought that same soul-listening into our parenting? “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10 NLT). If God has blessed us with the gift of children, why would God not also bless us with the time we need to parent well? A great portion of parenting well is the time we take to pause, breathe, and notice. What a gift for our children to see us taking time to listen to our souls when faced with “trials of various kinds.” (James 1:2 ESV) This life is not a race or competition. By stopping, we give ourselves the chance to see into the very heart of God.
As artists, we recognize that our creativity is simply opening to God the Creator’s creative flow in us. It is not a fist held tight around the brush, pen, or camera. Equally, our parenting is not a power struggle. Let’s take heart in the truth that our children are not the masterpieces we are working on. We can entrust their lives to God. The piece we are working on is parenting itself—really, ourselves.
And the most limiting factor in our artmaking is ourselves. Our negative thoughts begin to sound like the only truth, imposter syndrome sets in, and lack of discipline becomes easier. Parenting presents the same difficulties. The cure for the tortured artist/parent is to zoom out and gaze at the greater picture. Our art and parenting are (almost unbelievably) part of a greater story the Creator of all is bringing into existence. “Our works do matter. Our words do matter…because what we say and do today can last eternally!...if built upon the foundation of Christ.” (Fujimura 2020) Parenting and art have an eternal impact.
We can fuse our parenting and artmaking, opening every part of our lives to the creative process. The God of all Creation called us to parent our specific children and develop ourselves as artists. If God has gifted us with such responsibilities, the Creator will provide everything we need to be creative in Christlike ways that will stand through the fire and form the foundations of God’s new kingdom.
Katelynn Camp
Author Bio
Katelynn Camp unexpectedly found her life partner in South America and she has not left yet. Her children, River (3) and Melody (1), are living a rich, third-culture kid experience as redheads in Latin America.
Katelynn started writing in grade school. Her first screenplay flopped, though, when none of her young girlfriends wanted to kiss the neighbor boy’s hand. She did not give up and now has a Bachelor of Arts in writing from Biola University. She has dabbled in magazine writing, copy editing, proofing, poetry, and novel writing. Inspiration strikes her when out in nature, so you will often find her mountain climbing, running, sitting by a lake, or (her favorite) chasing waterfalls. To experience more of Katelynn’s writing, visit https://www.katelynnmarie.com or write her directly HERE.
Works Cited
Cameron, Julia. 1992. The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. New York: Tarcher/Putnam.
English Standard Version. N.d. James 1:2.
Fujimura, Makoto. 2020. Art and Faith. New Haven: Yale University Press.
New Living Translation. n.d. Ephesians 2:10.
BEHOLDING BEAUTY
Recently, I was guiding a young teenager through a drawing lesson at a community center. I told her that she must learn the art of seeing; making keen observations of color, texture, and shape, and how light plays the ultimate role in revealing the object we are drawing.
Lessons from the Rainbow Garden
When I was a child my mother taught me the art of seeing while helping her in a garden she cultivated. She worked hard to make this garden. She first had to convince the housing authority to allow for a garden in the neighborhood. Then after it was approved, with only some help from others she had to care and maintain it. She called it Rainbow Garden. It brought color and beauty amid the rough, low-income, drug-infested neighborhood we lived in. Then the lesson came – as we entered the Rainbow Garden she would say, “Look at those colors, how the orange plays with the purple and the red with the green.” And with emphasis, nearly demanding that I look much closer into the flowers, not moving until I did. And at my closer and more careful observation, a whole new world opened up to me. Leaves had fur and flower petals now had texture. Pollen glittered on anthers like powder pads for bees.
For me, this was just the beginning of seeing beyond seeing. We all know the famous phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Subjectively, this is true. I have witnessed many who would call bizarre, and even morbid things beautiful. However, beauty from a divine perspective is way beyond what we see with our eyes.
A rare kind of seeing
“The awareness of grandeur and the sublime is all but gone from the modern mind. Our systems of education stress the importance of enabling the student to exploit the power aspect of reality. To some degree, they try to develop his ability to appreciate beauty. But there is no education for the sublime. We teach children how to measure, to weigh. We fail to teach them how to revere, how to sense wonder and awe.” ~Abraham Joshua Heschel
So, how do we learn to see beyond if there is no education for the sublime? How do we begin to behold a deeper, transformative beauty? A beauty that is not bound by our opinions and solely dependent on proof? And once we experience this undeniable beauty, what does that transformation look like?
These are questions that I’m not attempting to answer in just an email. However, it continues to become a lifelong pursuit of mine.
My finite efforts to behold beauty
True beauty has its origin in God‘s creative and relational work. Its power and ability to capture our hearts are not affected by our passivity, ignorance, indifference, or familiarity. True beauty is also not subject to or dependent on our opinion of it. Beauty originating from the divine source is for divine purposes albeit misused and abused due to our selfish objectives.
Our efforts to beautify or make beautiful things are essentially good yet only a fading shadow, and a short-lived reflection of an eternal work. We should not be discouraged by this truth, but should ultimately continue seeking and asking for genuine ways to reflect and infuse God‘s beauty into our work and lives.
Seeing beyond what is seen is when we experience true beauty. This may take only a short while longer than normal looking so that we begin to carefully observe. For me, it happens the moment after I blink and reconsider what is before me – a mind transition to behold.
Seeing beyond what is seen will take much more than having our eyes open. It is surrendering our passive business to behold the powerful creative life force beyond us. It’s beholding with our hearts what we cannot grasp and reaching for what holds and sustains us for all eternity.
Our greatest privilege is the invitation by God to engage with His beauty, goodness, and truth. We are invited by a deep calling to walk alongside him in the cool of the morning once again and to see beyond seeing, as we tend to the garden of his creation—even in the current world we live in.
The delicacies of your presence inundated me with the intricacies of nature. ~Carmen Rodriguez, a loving mother and founder of the Rainbow Garden.
In Memory of 2022
To reflect on the last year, I retreated to a friend's farm about an hour away right before Christmas. The setting was tranquil, and the weather was just right, with the clouds shading me from the glorious sun at the right time. I had my journal from last year to read and reflect on and a calm dog named Bobby to keep me company. It was a perfect, restful moment in the Pichincha mountains.
I reflected on my journey. I thought of all the trials I have overcome to this point and all the lessons I'm still learning. And there are many memories blurred behind the fog of forgetfulness. Some memories are as clear as the air, passing but always there. But this new season, I want to create great memories. Memories that my children would love to share as part of their story and memories for my wife and me to cherish. My time away has allowed me to ponder what that means in my everyday life.
Recently but not coincidently, the same friend from gave me two large bags of books. Among those books, I found my answer. The title of the book "The Sacred Journey" jumped out of the copious other titles. And I heard of the author Frederick Buechner before, who happened to pass away on August 15 last year, but I have never read any of his works. Somehow, I felt that something in this book would help give me a better perspective of my everyday life. Upon reading the intro, I was encouraged that my journey was not just a journey passing through time but a sacred journey. And not one of isolated pietism, privately gorging on my personal spiritual development, far from it. It is a journey of seeing, listening, and responding intently and with curiosity to the mundane moments right in front of me. It is a journey that invites others to behold ordinary moments as unfolding mysteries.
At the turn of the year, I wrote in my journal a sort of resolution for this new season and my life:
To hear beyond hearing, to see beyond seeing
to know beyond thinking, to converse without words
to behold moments as mysteries unfolding—
this is the hopeful end to all my faithful beginnings.
I want to behold mundane moments and dare to transform them into meaningful memories. If that sounds like something you would like to cultivate in your life, this month we will be exploring what a sacred journey may look like. We will be using Buechner's book The Sacred Journey as a guide. We invite you to converse with us and share your thoughts on our Facebook page or on Instagram. A virtual event will be posted soon.
Many blessings,
ROTA featuring Shelley Henk
Other References:
Just Say No, 14 Transformational Keys to Set Healthy Boundaries in Business and Relationships
Book: The Creative Call: An Artist’s Response to the Way of the Spirit, by Janice Elsheimer
Book: Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art, by Madeleine L'Engle
Elements of Life
Some say Variety is the spice of life. And for artists, it is an element or a building block of art.
When I took art classes as a youth, I would tune the teachers out as they shared the Elements and Principles, not knowing really what they were for.
It turns out that, whether or not you notice it, you are instinctively using them when you create. Naturally, we try to implement Contrast when something isn’t clearly seen and the marks that we make become Lines and often turn into Shapes. Color opens up so many possibilities. All of these pieces are working together to form a beautiful and cohesive tapestry.
God’s creation is the same, giving us a myriad of ways to be inspired. It seems that I discover a new species of something each time a nature show is on. All these creatures have the fingerprint of our Maker, showing us his Patterns and Shapes.
This is one of the many reasons, I believe that we are to embrace and be delighted in the differences of mankind. The Variety you see in each person, the Lines of their faces, and the Patterns of their lives ought to inspire more love and a willingness to learn. Perhaps developing an understanding within our differences takes a little more time, but I think if we are intrigued and curious that is enough to get started.
Just like the Art History professors who urge us to look deeply, to ponder for a while, and to think about what we see, Jesus reminds us to slow down and “love one another.” When the scriptures say that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” it uses these terms to show us that we were made with great care and reverence. Paul expands on this when he says that we are “His workmanship.” The word workmanship or Poiema only being used one other time in this way to refer to God’s creation.
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:20
So here we are expressing the attributes of God, not only in the design of our lives and deeds, but as New Creations we acknowledge the care, respect, and remarkable ways in which others are made. With Variety, with Contrast, in different Colors - we are the Coat of Many Colors of God’s Son. We are the tribes, tongues, and nations that God longs for.
~Nancy Rodriguez
Resistance In Creative Ventures
There’s a certain feeling of anticipation at the beginning of a worthy endeavor. Perhaps there is a vision or a wish. So you go out and you buy the needed supplies. But a wish remains a wish if tools sit there in silent witness to your procrastination. This can become a cycle of, “I will do it someday.” A wish becomes a hope when we implement a plan of action.
Sometimes, though, it is not so easy to get started or you may start only to realize that your analytical brain takes over and begins to bash your efforts. It’s extremely easy to succumb to the thoughts of perfectionism, doubt, and negative thought patterns. Think about the last time you were disappointed with your efforts. Did you treat yourself as a caring friend, full of compassion? Chances are your inner voice was harsh and demanding.
It seems like the more you care about something the bigger the insecurity. We begin to notice that there is something that wants to stop us from dreaming big and actively working toward our goals. Steven Pressfield, who wrote The War of Art calls this Resistance. To me, Resistance feels like a big hurdle of “what ifs” and there are way too many reasons as to why I can’t move past a certain point. What does Resistance look like to you?
“The more resistance you experience, the more important your unmanifested art/project/enterprise is to you - and the more gratification you will feel when you finally do it.” ― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle
Beginning a creative endeavor is scary. The fact that there is creativity involved means that you are exercising your unique point of view. Once you start, there is no way to tell how it will end and, therefore, creative activities require courage and an optimistic belief that it will all work out and that we will enjoy the process. It’s not surprising that we sometimes hit a wall. The blank canvas is just too much to bear. The cursor blinks at us with an impatient rhythm atop a vast blank page.
The question is, how to move forward? You are a pilgrim on a faith journey, with a high calling and a promise. How do you start your journey and continue without giving up?
Let us recognize that in our faith and in our artistic path we face many giants who have given us the proverbial stare down. Think about a place or time when your courage failed. How did you move onward and upward? What did you learn in that process?
Perhaps you relied on your tried and true habits and art practice to keep you going. Or perhaps you gathered your loins and looked at Resistance in the face and, like David, you said:
"You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty...”
Either way, I think it’s worthwhile to recognize areas of Resistance, identify your goals, and make a plan for how to face your giant with full expectation that God will help you overcome.
~ Nancy Rodriguez
Voice and the Artist
God spoke and it all began. His voice set all that He envisioned in motion. He had the ability to lay foundations by the sound of His voice. But there was activity attached to what He spoke. A special style guide is present in His creation. He set boundaries, chose color schemes, thought about function and beauty. To this day, mankind is fascinated by the outcome of God’s creative expression. And He continues to create. What many people puzzle over is how distinct, sustainable, and fitted together like a puzzle nature is. I’m sure that most people attribute certain creative laws and similarities to evolution. Believers in the fame of God’s character know that His finger is on all of it and that it is His creative voice being seen and heard, plainly.
I think the creative person understands this in a unique, though lesser way. Whether you are a writer, producer, or craftsman, the more you create a body of work the easier it is to see your hand in it. Artists, authors, designers, any person that makes something understands that they are making something in their own unique way. It has all been done before, but the expression of each maker has a way of being new. This personal way of creating something new is called a signature style. God took six days to create all that is in that motion. It can take the artist years, perhaps a lifetime.
The difficulty of finding your voice or signature style is that it takes so long. We can’t plan it or force it. It simply arises out of the art practice. We need a safe place and time of consistent exploration, attempts, and application. This consistency is key because the more consistent we are practicing our craft, the more we will gravitate to certain qualities which later become more recognizable. The more you create, the more you write, etc. the easier it is to see a common thread or theme. When you have created enough, step back from it and see it as a whole. It’s probable that you will see a pattern and a motif.
In fact, we can step back and analyze events from our lives and see a creative pattern. Sometimes it’s easier to see the pattern of brokenness, but look through a new lens and I hope you will see God’s hand in your life. He’s not done with you yet. Furthermore, Jesus said, “I go and prepare a place for you.” I wonder how His signature style is at work this time! If the earth fascinates us now in its state of fallenness, how much more will we be captivated by His glorified new place?
In the meantime, let us reflect Him and continue to create. Let us do the work, rely on our practice to show us our voice, and enjoy the process. He is part of our journey and we will begin to see His hand in our practice as well.
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Psalm 139:13-14
Press On To Know
I’m so glad that where I live the weather is warming and the flowers wasted no time to present their blooms. The initial buds are evidence that there were things at work while the landscape was resting. It’s hard to believe that those trees and bushes are still alive and well when they look so barren. Once they show signs of awakening, it happens pretty quickly. Branches reach for the sun with rapid new growth. Plants we had forgotten were there (thank God for perennials) suddenly burst through to remind us of things we planted some time ago.
I love the verse:
So let us know— let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth. ~Hosea 6:3
I love that God created seasons because they resonate with our lives so well. Each season has so much beauty and joy. Sometimes, though, winter can feel a bit long and dreary. There is beauty in it, but often, we have to dig deep in the wintertime and endure. How often we can also forget that good things are coming and that they are being worked on nonstop.
I hope you find courage in that. What have you sown and perhaps forgotten about? What are you trusting God for and have waited through seasons that felt like drought, deserts, or winter? Have you worked really hard and have been faithful at this one good thing God gave you to do? Well, He has promised to be faithful. He has said that He will surely come. And nothing that you sowed will be wasted. Stay faithful, believe in the growth even if you can’t see it, know that new things will come. God has even promised that your tears that were sown will reap joy for you. You just have to wait, winter well, and be thankful for those beautiful blooms. Press on to know.
Blog post by Nancy Rodriguez
Let us Consider
This morning I gently felt the Lord reminding me to pause and take notice of the people that are in my life. It was as if his hand was on my shoulder and, with his other hand, He was signaling to all that is before me. In my mind, I "saw" the people that I come across regularly. My family and my coworkers, also a few friends. And this is what I perceived:
Take time to notice the people around you, for they are My artistry.
Small moments that are intentionally good grow to become a life of love.
It only takes a small moment to be present and acknowledge the importance of a person.
My careful handiwork is in the details, notice them.
How often am I driven by my ever-growing to-do list? How little time in the day I have to notice God's handiwork?
If you are an artist, you are probably drawn to examine and observe things that inspire you which leads to your artistic response. Art has the potential to help the viewer slow down. Isn't this what we hope for?
We hope that the viewer would take the time to see through our lens, even if they draw their own conclusions. We offer beautiful vignettes of lines, shapes, colors, compositions, and splashes of grace. It's important to us that our audience engages with what we create. This may not be the driving force, for our work is a calling and an act of worship, but we hope that they will take repose and think about what they are seeing.
It's funny to think about how long we deliberate over the choices we make on canvas, with clay, or our medium of choice. It is encouraging to find out that our craftsmanship is honored, acknowledged, and in-demand - especially if art-making is also your career. In reality, though, the viewer has the opportunity to scroll or stroll past or stay a while and ponder. Our challenge is to draw them in and, for a small moment, share our viewpoint.
We aim for excellence, we aim to communicate, we aim to create with passion, and we also aim for someone to notice what we have made. We can relate to God in this way. His artistry and handiwork are so evident in our lives and in the lives of the people around us. Let us "consider how the lilies grow." Let us consider His care and let us really "see" someone intently for a small moment. His handiwork is all around us.
Consider how the lilies grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. Luke 12:27
Building A Creative Community
We want to introduce our new online ROTA group! If you love art (artist or not) and want to be inspired about your role in the world you live in, this is a group for you!
Thursday, January 28 at 7 PM EST come to learn more about how to be a part of our private Facebook ROTA group. Let us know you’re attending at https://fb.me/e/3bwLJdlYo. Zoom link for the meeting will be provided on the event page.
Milestone Reached!
We are so excited about our new project: Revelations of the Artist.
It has been a surprising journey, and guess what, our book is being published as we speak!
For the last several months we have been hard at work designing and editing our book, Revelations of the Artist. It’s such a beautiful journey full of community and love, shared by all involved. As the year flies by to its end, we are busy on our site, promoting our book, and also on upcoming virtual events. We will also be looking for venues and speaking opportunities to share about the book and the Creative Ministry Center vision.
Thanks to you, we were able to raise enough money to print 2,500 copies of the book. It was definitely a leap of faith and, even though we’re starting off printing half of what we hoped for, we felt that we needed to have the books in hand to run with the momentum. After prayer we felt that this was also a great start. It was so exciting for some of our artists who participated in the podcast, Faith & Art Conversations.
What struck me the most was how generous each artist felt about this project. I really feel that this attitude of giving and reaching out is what binds us together. We have different styles and subject matter but what we share is partnership with Christ.
We are like stones being built and put together to lift Him up.
This one motivation is what empowers us to host our viewers and readers into the studio, so to speak.
What’s next
We are switching gears and putting on our marketing hats to get this book out there. Needless to say, we have a learning curve. You might say that we are newbies but we are so motivated. Never has it been more clear - we are made in the image of a Loving Creator - we therefore must share our creations with the world.
The artist and maker may go through a time of preparation. Hours are spent in isolation refining his or her craft but the goal is to communicate and to share this act of love and hard work to others.
How precious to think of our beloved Jesus, who also spent years preparing and waiting until the Masterpiece reveal that changed lives - the last three years of His life. What an impact. One may wonder, why didn’t He begin sooner? We want to know more about his earlier years. But the fact is, the Father chose to keep Him in a secret place of “growing in stature with God and men,” until all was ready. The dove appeared from the sky, the water was turned to wine, and the Beatitudes poured from the vessel of Jesus.
Please consider Revelations of the Artist as a gift this season. You can also share about this book and it’s purpose to fund a Creative Ministry Center in Ecuador to help serve under-resourced communities.
With immense gratitude this Thanksgiving season,
Freedom & Nancy Rodriguez