Creativity: Promptings Over Inspiration

Inspiration is fleeting and unreliable, but hearing the voice of God and His promptings can always be counted on.

I can recall being a young writer and waiting for the mysterious and often elusive inspiration to strike.  I felt incapacitated without it, and often found myself waiting to create until I “felt it”.

It wasn’t until my relationship with the Lord deepened and I started to realize that His whispers were promptings to create, that I started finding consistency in my creativity and rapid growth in my art.

Does that seem mythical?  Bare with me, and let me share my story.

When I first started photographing nature, time in the field was an escape.  I soon discovered that spending time in the forest always resulted in my heart turning towards the Lord in worship.  How can one sit in nature and not turn their thoughts towards the One who is responsible for the beauty around you.

After my time in the field, I’d bring my photographs home on the memory card and start the work of processing them in my digital darkroom on the computer.  While processing I’d sit in my little home in Kentucky and listen to Keith & Kristyn Getty on Pandora and worship while I edited.  Everything about my photography was intertwined in one way or another with worship.

On nights when I was home alone and everything was quiet, I’d listen to that same music and watch my images come across my computer on a screensaver.  It never failed to bring me to tears.  The act of being present with the Lord while creating in the field gave me precious memories of His nearness.  The resulting process of bringing those images to life on the computer and the continued worship was a sacred experience for me and filled many lonely nights.

When we can balance the discipline of creating with consistency, we will often find that the inspiration will flow once the work has been started.

Today I want to challenge you that if you’re in a dry spell and haven’t experienced the rush of inspiration in a while, that you do your heart a favor and pick your art back up.  Brush it off, turn on some music, and step back into it.  You never know, the inspiration may join you.