McManus is not just an artist. He is a creative who uses his gifts to further the work of God. He started a church in LA, CA called Mosaic where the people of his congregation use their creative talents for the Kingdom. And what he calls us to in The Artisan Soul is a life of creativity...every day...no matter the medium or vehicle through which we create. What he teaches is that every soul is a creative soul, whether they think so or not.
"...the great divide is not between those who are artists and those who are not, but between those who understand that they are creative and those who have become convinced that they are not."
We are all creative. We are created by a creative God who made us into His image.
"Yet what humanity needs most is for us to set creativity free from this singular category of the extraordinary and release it into the hands of the ordinary. Creativity should be an everyday experience. Creativity should be as common as breathing. We breathe, therefore we create."
A person might say that not all people are creative and that saying everyone is just sets a person up for failure. But as people who have the Spirit of God living within them, we are creative beings. We want to create whether it is through decorating a room, cooking a fabulous dish, writing a short story, blogging, painting, making a yard look good, or crocheting a blanket.
Being creative doesn't mean there won't be failures. There will be.
"...we live in the fear that if we aspire to be more we will discover ourselves to be less. We live in fear of failure, convinced that failure will prove us to be frauds. We have bought into the lie that creative people never fail and hence failure is proof that we are not creative."
"Fear is the shadow of creativity....The creative act is inherently an act of courage....To make our lives a creative act is to marry ourselves to risk and failure...creativity is born of risk and refined from failure. If we are at the core both spiritual beings and creative beings, then the artisan soul is where we live when we have the courage to be our truest selves."
It's so hard to step out and risk it all to share our creative selves. When we hit send on the manuscript we have written, we feel we are sending a part of very essence out for the world to judge. We fear we will be judged as inferior, which reflects on who we are at our core. But those rejections are the building stones of creativity. They are what grounds us and molds us. We are indeed "refined by failure".
This book is one that should grace every artist's bookshelf.
Do you consider yourself creative? Do you embrace your artistic soul? Or is it hard for you to say you are an artistic person...whether it is with words, paint, landscape, or food, etc?
****************************************************************************
Sherrinda Ketchersid is a born and bred Texan, preacher’s wife, mother of 4 children, and works part-time as a bookseller at Amazon. With the children grown and out of the house, she weaves tales of fierce knights and their ladies in a time where men were warriors and women had to be strong enough to keep them in check.
After taking time off from writing, she has returned with a new motto in place to spur her on. “Writers write. Everyone else makes excuses.” ~Jack Bickham. No excuses this time. She is weaving her love of romance with history to bring joy and the hope of love to those who may one day read her stories. Her first book, Lord of Her Heart, released in May 2019.
Website: sherrinda.com
Twitter: @sherrinda
5 comments:
Sherrnda, good stuff here. I grew up around creative people -- my mother could make a lamp out of a used bleach bottle -- but I find it has a whole other dimension after I gave my life to the Lord. Because I'm doing it in His name -- baking cookies for the neighbors, commenting on blogs, even keeping my yard neat (stewardship!). And most of all writing. I'm newly published (September!) and I can already see how God is using me and my book. It's more than an ISBN number.
Talk to you soon,
Kathy Bailey
I have never considered myself an artist and sometimes not even a "real" writer and I wouldn't even call myself creative. I think it feels like I'm trying to grasp for something that is too far above me to say any of those things about myself, but I know that is a lie. I've fooled myself into thinking that is humility when in essence it's self-absorption through loathing and is from the enemy. This book sounds like a wonderful antidote to the lies that steal our creativity, our productivity and our joy. Thank you so much for sharing!
Loved that book! Blogged about it here in September: https://terrietodd.blogspot.com/2019/09/whatcha-readin.html
I have that book on my shelf! I need to read it!
Thanks for sharing. Nice blog. I am working as an academic expert in Australia. We provide the best assignment help writing services for college and university students.
Post a Comment