But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth   (John 4: 22-24).

Now is the time to use our creativity as an act of worship instead of a form of personal satisfaction. Worship is an attitude of the heart,   —- it is a surrender to the Lord where we become vulnerable and transparent before Him. To receive we open our hearts and minds without reservation and we wait on Him. He bestows and imparts what we are ready to receive.

We all remember those moments of awe in our lives when everything comes together, everything flows, everything falls into place…it seems effortless, almost supernatural. Lets think about if those moments expanded into a life time,  how that would be, think about how your future would be,  your relationships, how it would change your life…those moments of awe becoming an everyday thing,  — if you paid the price to become you at your best.

I am convinced that without having experienced those moments, which could have been windows into your future self, we would give up or give in to defeat in times of allowing the shadow of creativity to take hold of us. Reflect on what brought you to that moment of awe and begin to imagine yourself living continuously in that awesome place.

To be human is to expect tomorrow, the future, to be much like the past, yesterday and today. We don’t expect radical shifts each moment, any creative endeavor is to bring into existence something that has not been experienced, or is different than what has been experienced, somewhere at some point there needs to be a break with the past and what it means to be human to create. The question is, exactly what aspect of one’s thinking and how we expect the world to unfold needs to change, so we can create something different. (renewal of the mind)

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.     Galatians 5:16-17

Lately I have been thinking a lot about why we get so attacked in the spirit as believers. The dream/vision God gave me was so perfectly depicted and showed me why…

I was in a bush like environment with lions all around me. The lions were peaceful and loving as long as I stayed in the moment without fear (spirit), as soon as I became restless and worried (flesh), they became aggressive and started attacking me. End of vision/dream…

Fear is without a doubt the cause of not being able to enter in to our divine intention (purpose), the plan of the enemy is to paralyse us and make us feel  unworthy of the creative beings that God ordained for us too be. Lack of self worth, fear of rejection, fear of not being good enough, be creative anyway. Live it out as an act of worship. We connect to His nature through worship, praise and thanksgiving only then do we produce a flow back into our own spirit. It’s not for the Lord; it is for us making us vulnerable to His goodness.

Love Covers All

“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
― Sylvia Plath

Nobody who embarks on a creative project knows exactly where they’re going to end up. But they trust the process to get them somewhere great, one tiny decision at a time.

War Zone

  “Creativity arises from our ability to see things from many different angles.”― Keri Smith

“Despite a lack of natural ability, I did have the one element necessary to all early creativity: naïveté, that fabulous quality that keeps you from knowing just how unsuited you are for what you are about to do.” ― Steve Martin

Fountain of Youth

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” ― Sophia Loren

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.” — Steve Jobs

Once Upon a Time

This image tells us about how things change, regardles of how we would like to hold on. Now a way through for the elephants to the water hole. They remember…

An excerpt all creatives can relate too;

“When I walk into [the studio] I am alone, but I am alone with my body, ambition, ideas, passions, needs, memories, goals, prejudices, distractions, fears.

These ten items are at the heart of who I am. Whatever I am going to create will be a reflection of how these have shaped my life, and how I’ve learned to channel my experiences into them.

The last two — distractions and fears — are the dangerous ones. They’re the habitual demons that invade the launch of any project. No one starts a creative endeavor without a certain amount of fear; the key is to learn how to keep free-floating fears from paralyzing you before you’ve begun. When I feel that sense of dread, I try to make it as specific as possible. Let me tell you my five big fears:

1. People will laugh at me.
2. Someone has done it before.
3. I have nothing to say.
4. I will upset someone I love.
5. Once executed, the idea will never be as good as it is in my mind.

“There are mighty demons, but they’re hardly unique to me. You probably share some. If I let them, they’ll shut down my impulses (‘No, you can’t do that’) and perhaps turn off the spigots of creativity altogether. So I combat my fears with a staring-down ritual, like a boxer looking his opponent right in the eye before a bout.

1. People will laugh at me? Not the people I respect; they haven’t yet, and they’re not going to start now….

2. Someone has done it before? Honey, it’s all been done before. Nothing’s original. Not Homer or Shakespeare and certainly not you. Get over yourself.

3. I have nothing to say? An irrelevant fear. We all have something to say.
4. I will upset someone I love? A serious worry that is not easily exorcised or stared down because you never know how loved ones will respond to your creation. The best you can do is remind yourself that you’re a good person with good intentions. You’re trying to create unity, not discord.

Twyla Tharp  –   The Creative Habit: Learn it and use it for Life

Strength and Courage

“When you know yourself—your strengths, joys, limitations, and fears—you can live in truth and transparency in all areas of your life.”
― Michael Thomas Sunnarborg

Productivity Tip:

Be alone more, take time for yourself in worship.  All creative people value and need solitude, it allows them to protect their dreams from the voices of dissent, refuel their creativity and get far more done – free from distraction and everything around them that causes the shadow of creativity to take hold.

Reflective Solitude

‘’To be creative means to consider the whole process of life as a process of birth, and not to take any stage of life as a final stage.” Eric Fromm

Imagination

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” ― George Bernard Shaw

Creativity is about allowing life to come into being — fully. When we respond in a mindful way, creativity is already emerging. We are already living with awareness and living with wisdom, creativity is not something that we do, it’s something that happens of its own accord. It is life, living through us, unchecked, unfettered, and free.

What drives me to create is that it makes me feel good, it makes me feel whole, nothing missing nothing broken.  It fills me with peace and causes me to be a blessing to others.

Our time spent with God each day in worship and prayer is what changes us…and sustains us through difficult times. God does all the revealing about ourselves and He does a wonderful job, better then any of us could ever do. So I am learning to abide in Him and therefore He abides in me, so the word says. My attempts to correct others have never worked, it is not my job, it’s God’s job. I would rather encourage others to worship Him — then I have done a good thing.  His presence precedes process, embrace the process…

Gifting and favor can open doors, but it’s your character, the alignment with the nature of Jesus Christ,     —– that is  going to keep you there…

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.

Martha Graham

Please click on  “Faith Like Feathers”  for my testimony.

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