Thoughts for a Sunday morning
Christine February 4th, 2007
If you step out your door today that might be a creative act. Any athlete would tell you that before a big event the first step onto the field or track is the biggest one they take. A writer sitting down to begin a book will tell you that just the act of starting to write is the spark which enables the writing to occur. The actor’s first word spoken on the stage at opening curtain is what carries him or her through the production, and likewise for a musician – it’s the actual picking up of the instrument which counts in the music that gets heard. The writer Madeleine L’ Engle contends that you don’t even need to be that good at what you do, or in her words: “Slowly I have realized that I do not have to be qualified to do what I am asked to do, that I just have to go ahead and do it, even if I can’t do it as well as I think it ought to be done.” Glimpses of Grace
L’ Engle goes onto suggest that God’s qualifications are much different than the world’s. Once we buy into the notion that we might be good enough, have enough education or experience in a certain field; or maybe the opposite – that we are not qualified enough, then “….we have already fallen for the tempter’s wiles.” She pretty much ends her musings there, but I wish she had gone on to expound this theme. I believe where she was headed was this: once you start thinking about your art, your gift, your way with people, your ability to communicate, your talent of whatever persuasion – the moment you start comparing or analyzing that gift in human terms then you begin to build obstacles for yourself. God just wants you to act in the spirit of whatever talent you are given, even though you might not be as adept in your calling as you would like to be. The very act of reaching out to someone in pain, playing music for someone in the hospital, writing words which help mend rifts, throwing a pot on the potter’s wheel which will end up cooking food in someone’s oven; these are the creative acts which can heal and preserve.
If I only had a quarter for every time I thought: “Why am I trying to do this? There are so many other better musicians out there than I am.” And there are! But …. And then I remember that the creative act happens in that one, unique moment inside one, unique person which I believe is a God-given moment. Just do it! Or some times it is merely - just begin.
Technorati Tags: Madeleine L’ Engle, creativity, music, pottery, art, compassion, writing
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