An exherpt from The Creative Life

From The Creative Life, A Workbook for Unearthing the Christian Imagination by Alice Bass

page 34 - 35

It was the first time I realized that I was not my own. I was an instrument. Built for something. This teacher seemed to think I was built to be an actor. At the time, so did I. And I still think one of my roles is to be an actor. But I have a bigger role as an instrument of God. Each of us is being fitted and trained to be a part of a heavenly orchestra. Each of us is asked to be available to his filling, to stand our ground, take on our role and be used by him.

You are an instrument; your life is a creative expression of God. He has made you with unique beauty, and there is no one else like you; there never has been, and there never will be again.

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
Whne I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body. (Psalm 139:14-16)

Close your eyes now and take a deep breath. Meditate on the two passages you just read. You are the work of his hand. His works are wonderful, you know that full well. Now invite your imagination to be available to a new thought; imagine your life as a work of art.

Are you a movie, a book, a painting, a symphony? Are you a story, poem, ballet, tapestry or photograph?

How is God singing through you, expressing himself to the world?

Picture God as the potter. Is it easy for him to mold you or is he having to work the clay?

How is he shaping you as a work of art right now?

What does it look like to be a wonderful work of God's hands?

How does the Artist [God] feel about his work?

Each one of us is different. If you are a short story, I am a painting. God is speaking through both of us. He is crafting the story beautifully, with deep characters, funny, poignant scenes and an interesting plot. He is adding texture and color to the painting. When you see a painting you are drawn into the beauty of its strokes and colors, the scene and story of it. And while you are relating to a work of art, enjoying its beauty, moved by its sadness, you are registering something about the painter, the artist, the author. So it is with you and me. God does not bring us into the family and say, "Well, you were a painting and you are a sculpture, but now that you are Christians, I need you all to be poems. "You are a symphony, I am a poem, he is a barbershop-quartet melody, she is a sculpture in bronze, and God is expressed through each of us. And God does an amazing thing. He puts all of these works of art together, and they form one perfect picture, the body of the Lord Jesus.

Wow, a Protestant (or maybe she is Anglican) said basically the same this as Pope John Paul II ! That's cool ! Two are in agreement. I like that! That inspires me that there is common ground here. I love when this happens because I hate division. This is an area that can be built upon like a bridge of understanding and respect.

Compare and contrast:


John Paul II: In producing a work, artists express themselves to the point where their work becomes a unique disclosure of their own being, of what they are and of how they are what they are. And there are endless examples of this in human history. In shaping a masterpiece, the artist not only summons his work into being, but also in some way reveals his own personality by means of it. For him art offers both a new dimension and an exceptional mode of expression for his spiritual growth. Through his works, the artist speaks to others and communicates with them.......With loving regard, the divine Artist passes on to the human artist a spark of his own surpassing wisdom, calling him to share in his creative power. Obviously, this is a sharing which leaves intact the infinite distance between the Creator and the creature, as Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa made clear: “Creative art, which it is the soul's good fortune to entertain, is not to be identified with that essential art which is God himself, but is only a communication of it and a share in it”.(1)
~ Pope John Paul II

Alice Bass: It was the first time I realized that I was not my own. I was an instrument. Built for something. This teacher seemed to think I was built to be an actor. At the time, so did I. And I still think one of my roles is to be an actor. But I have a bigger role as an instrument of God. Each of us is being fitted and trained to be a part of a heavenly orchestra. Each of us is asked to be available to his filling, to stand our ground, take on our role and be used by him.

You are an instrument; your life is a creative expression of God. He has made you with unique beauty, and there is no one else like you; there never has been, and there never will be again.

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

A confession of another huge weakness ...

I really enjoy Bob Ross parodies. LOL! My family and friends don't seem to understand WHY I find them so funny. Maybe somehow I relate to Bob Ross....like somehow behind his cool peaceful demeaner where he is trying oh so hard to keep it all together, he is secretly frustrated and annoyed at all the eeeevilll in the world and wants so badly to vent. In the past while doing face painting at community events, I have dressed like a hippy with a giant afro, and soooo I feel a certain comradery with this man.

Okay, this one was created by some college kids who take it a little bit far, but I still laugh with it and soooo people think I'm sick. I don't disrespect Bob Ross. I used to watch him on television when I was growing up as a kid and was so impressed. But anyhoo, this one jives with the previous parody video where he actually paints a person and it doesn't work out too well.

It is a paradox of Christian faith that God is revealed especially in the little—the poor in both material goods and in spirit. In the humbleness, limitations and imperfections of life, we can contemplate the presence of God. The life of Christ shows a concern for the small: the sick in body and soul, the disenfranchised, the forgotten and abandoned, the lost sheep.
from Holy Simplicity: The Little Way of Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day & Thérèse of Lisieux

Perfectionism is a block to creativity and pride at work

(There are also spiritual parallels to what she is saying below about art and writing...)

From Julia Cameron's book "The Artist's Way" page 119-120

Perfectionism has nothing to do with getting it right. It has nothing to do with fixing things. It has nothing to do with standards. Perfectionism is a refusal to let yourself move ahead. It is a loop - an obsessive, debilitationg closed system that causes you to get stuck in the details of what you are writing or painting or making and to lose sight of the whole.

Instead of creating feely and allowing errors to reveal themselves later as insights, we often get mired in getting the details right. We correct our originality into a uniformity that lacks passion and spontaneity. "Do no fear mistakes," Miles Davis told us. "There are none."

The perfectionist fixes one line of a poem over and over - until no lines are right. The perfectionist redraws the chin line on a portrait until the paper tears. The perfectionish writes so many version of scene one that she never gets to the rest of the play. The perfectionist writes, paints, creates with one eye on her audience. Instead of enjoying the process, the perfectionist is constantly grading the results.

The perfectionist has married the logic side of the brain. The critic reigns supreme in the perfectionist's creative house-hold. A brilliant descriptive prose passage is critiqued with a white-glove approach: "Mmm. What about this comma? Is this how you spell ...?"

For the perfectionist, there are no first drafts, rough sketches, warm-up exercises. Every draft is meant to be final, perfect, set in stone.

Midway through a project, the perfectionist decides to read it all over, outline it, see where it's going.

And where is it going ? Nowhere, very fast.

The perfectionist is never satisfied. The perfectionist never says, "This is pretty good. I think I'll just keep going."

To the perfectionist, there is always room for improvement. The perfectionist calls this humility, in reality, it is egotism. It is PRIDE that makes us want to write a perfect script, paint a perfect painting, perform a perfect audition monologue.

Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough - that we should try again.

No. We should not.

A painting is never finished. It simply stops in interesting places," said Paul Gardner. A book is never finished. But at a certain point you stop writing it and go on to the next thing. A film is never cut perfectly, but at a certain point you let go and call it done. That is a normal part of creativity - letting go. We always do the best that we can by the light we have to see by.

OTAY, and now just for fun, get up and shake your booty really badly and sing joyfully off key !!!! ;-)



Happy Mistakes, Happy Trees, God Bless ! Bob Ross




"But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. "2 Cor. 4:7

Take heart.....

Focused Attention

They say that when someone is sick and dying, with a heightened awareness that their days are numbered and few, they develop a new appreciation of little things. Things intensify and become special and precious. That view out the window, that snowflake, that conversation, that kiss - each one could be your last.

The trick is to incorporate this perspective into your healthy - though challenging - life. Drawing does that; you pay attention in a way you normally wouldn't. Focus repels the distractions that muddle the experience. Every line, page, brick, unit of the thing you draw becomes essential. You're looking to catch each component in order to understand the contruction of the object and therefore realize the beauty of its balance, the necessity of each small part. You look and examine that thing with love. You desire to recognize every part to capture it in your drawing. You can feel security about your subject and at peace with recognizing the value of every little thing and moment in your life. ~ Patti Lynn Gregory

This quote of Patti Lynn Gregory reminds me of these scriptures:

"He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence" Colossians 1:18. Jesus is the head of the assembly. The assembly members are the ears, eyes, mouth, and the other various parts of Jesus' body. Each part has its own unique work to perform as it cooperates with the other parts to do Christ's work on earth. The hands doing the work hands do, the eyes doing the seeing, the ears the hearing, with each part doing its part for Christ by serving each other in love. (See 1 Corinthians 12:12-27)



Which areas of your life are not receiving adequate attention?


































Job 12: 7-10 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.