grace before…

i’ve been thinking about this quote ever since i found it hiding on the interwebs. saying that i’m thankful for my creativity almost sounds narcissistic. let’s rephrase that, though, ‘thank you for giving me the ability to create…’ thank you for giving them whoever them might be the ability to create in the way they do.

one of my professors once said that true enjoyment of a concerto is when one can sit back, listen to it and at the end not wish that they were in turn able to do the same.

to read a blog post and not wish to recreate it. instead to give props. mad props when due. not that we can’t learn from our peers. not that we can’t aspire to improve, to be better, but to recognize that we are on a journey and that talent displayed that we so envy did not appear overnight–it was honed.

to read a post and appreciate the hours spent pondering and crafting, editing and the bravery to finally press publish to listen to the music and understand the hours of practice, the many, many wrong notes hammered upon until the sum of which debuts as a masterpiece. to look at a person meeting their fitness goals and know that in this moment we can’t and don’t know where they started.

appreciating the end result intertwines itself with a respect of the blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice it took to get to the place they’re at today. to admire and recognize that each of us, whether it be with words, our hands, a brush, a pencil, our voices, our bodies, whatever way we create, a facet of the Creator shows through.perhaps He is brought into better focus through our creations.

we create first and foremost for Him. then we create for us. i inscribe on pages what speaks to my heart, what mends me, what casts me into despair–but it’s amazing how when i thought i was writing for me, it turns out to help someone else.

we break bread when we create. we spend time stirring together an amalgamation of emotion and thought; opinion and experience. then we break it out of its box and feed it to the world even if that world is just one person who reads it or watches it.

creating always evokes emotion of some sort. hate, anger, fear, angst, happiness, uneasiness, and impetus of such to move to action whether it be outward or inward. i’m starting to practice Chesterton’s quote because it makes me take heed.

take heed of the sacrifice, take heed of the finished product. to say, you are not where you started and sometimes the person that needs to hear that the most is me.

what’s your favorite way to create?

with love, kjtanner

redefining awesome