"Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things."
- Denis Diderot

If there is one word that MUST describe what we do: It's Passion.

What else would drive someone to spend every dime, sacrifice sleep and
relationship, and abandon all sensible thinking to realize our dreams?

There is no more sure recipe for success of a Creative Soul than
having a passion for what you do. Be it singing, writing, painting,
production, worship leading, whatever. If you have a passion and drive
for it, there is no limit to what you can do.

People ask me all the time (including my wife), "How and why do you do
all that do? Why stay up til 2 or 3 am and then get up at 8 am to
start again? How can you possibly love it that much?"

The answer is simple: "I have no idea". I just do it. Not because I
have to, because I want to.

The baseball player Ernie Banks sums up my feelings about the creative
work I have done and am doing: "Work? I never worked a day in my life.
I always loved what I was doing, had a passion for it."

It is a natural love, a vehement desire that permeates your soul to
the point you can't sit still any longer until you get writing,
playing, thinking, notating, humming, talking, journaling, reading,
blogging, or surfing to get out your creative thought or find the
information that will satisfy the craving.

Creating is a drug, an addiction, but like exercise, a totally natural
one. It's like breathing for most of us. We do it because we can't NOT
do it.

But what if you don't do that naturally, you say? And why do you HAVE to?

Some of you have or will have to develop those muscles. The license to
create wasn't always given to you early in life. Or circumstances just
kept that from being a reality. Who has time to write a song when you
are working 2 or 3 jobs, and raising children? Maybe your parents
never saw the need for creative or imaginative time when you were
young. Maybe your spouse just doesn't get it and doesn't support the
idea of "wasting time".

So, how do you grow this monster? Feed it.

At some point in my life I started reading Keyboard magazine, and
books about producing music. I saw the movie Fame and the charachter
Gino that had all the synthesizers, and immediately made it my goal to
get a keyboard. As I started writing songs, I began to record them and
listen to them. I pushed myself to stay up late to give time to the
things I wanted to create. At some point it just became second nature
to me. Just as fundamentals in sports or practicing in music makes
good habits natural and automatic.

The passion has to be important to you. No one else is going to place
it as high for you as you do. It's the thing you can't wait to get
back to. The thing you crave when you are not doing it.

I know you want to do this. Need inspiration to get going? Just crack
open the Bible to the Psalms for a while.

"My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing, I will sing praises, even
with my soul. Awake, harp and lyre; I will awaken the dawn! I will
give thanks to You, O LORD, among the peoples, And I will sing praises
to You among the nations." - Psalm 108:1-3

In her book "The Creative Life", Alice Bass says this:

"It is impossible to wave a magic wand so that you can be more
creative. Only God creates something out of nothing. Our creativity
comes from within a context, the context of our life as a creation of
God, who is the author and perfecter, the Artist. From within that
context we can unearth what we have to offer, and we can learn to be
available to the creative offerings around us....(We) do what (we) do
because (we) want people to experience Christ. (We) want to jump into
their lives and surprise them with the stirring of their own hearts."

Whatever you talent or passion, give it it's own time. Realize that
our work for the Lord is a result of HIS passion, and so it's OK for
us to have that same passion in pursuing our talents.

Make time for your music or art. Practice if nothing else. Create
always. Imagine infinitely!

But do so with vigor, passion, and because most of all, God deserves
your best and your whole heart.

"Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some
passion, than fade and wither dismally with age." - James Joyce

Have a great week!

EC
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Eric Copeland is the passionate leader of Creative Soul, an Artist
Development, Production, and Label Services Company located just
outside Nashville, TN. He stays up many nights way too late and has
basically since birth. But that's passion for you...

www.CreativeSoulOnline.com