Ouch, that hurt.

That sound that you just heard was your head thudding against the wall
again.

I know it seems like sometimes that there's just no point. You're just
too tired to keep going up against it over and over again.

I think it's especially true in the church as far as arts go. But I'm
sure jazz musicians, painters, social workers, policemen and
firefighters, and teachers hit the same wall.

Why keep fighting if you're not having the effect you hoped for. Or in
our case, if you're not having the artistic success you wanted.

Artistic success doesn't just mean how much your music or art is
selling, but how much you are satisfied and fulfilled by the art that
you create.

Not sure about you but sometimes I get awful sick and tired of the way
my music sounds.

So why do we keep going?

Here's a good word from Paul in First Corinthians.

24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one
gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who
competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a
crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last
forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do
not fight like a man beating the air.

If there is one thing I have learned in a very long life of creative
thinking and doing, is that God has a long term plan. It's amazing
really. The early ideas, the teen years, the college years, the
aimless twenties, the growing thirties, and revealing forties...every
year, every event, every WALL, there for a purpose. To teach me, to
guide me, to encourage me, to humble me, to feed me, to grow me.

And sometimes getting tired just means you need to rest, stupid.

Some nights I look around at 1am and think, I really don't "want" to
do anything. And this little voice says, "why don't you sleep you idiot".

And I get some extra rest, and BOOM, I'm back with a thriving brain.

Thrive. I love that word. I've always loved it. I still love it.

There are things through my life that have made me thrive. Some have
been far too brief, and frankly, too good to keep for long. Some have
been lasting and keep me focused.

You need to find that thing that makes you thrive. Something to revive
you, change you, recharge you, and thrill you. Something to remind you
want's really important and give you ideas.

Thrive on that thing for a while. Take a left turn from the THING that
you do. And enjoy the diversion. It may never come again. God may have
put that thing in your life to give you rest, keep you going through a
rough time, or grow you into a better person.

Then you'll find...the wall magically disappears. There suddenly is no
wall. (There is no spoon.)

Oh don't worry, it will be back. Bad times, or dry times, will come again.

The race is long, and true creative folks are never going to quit. We
can't quit because this is all we know how to do.

We get up, we create. We pause. We create some more.

Because this is what God made us to do.

It's just that sometimes He has to give us side roads, day trips, to
get some new ideas into your thick skulls.

Vacation is also an idea. Get away from your TV and computer a while
and things become amazingly simple.

Have a great week!

EC
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Eric Copeland is a classic creative, long distance thinker, and
general starer into the abyss (thinking creative thoughts). His
company Creative Soul is a imaginative music and media production
company outside Nashville, TN. He just got back from vacation so he is
more FULL of it (um, creative energy of course) than usual. Check out
all the info on Creative Soul at http://www.CreativeSoulOnline.com

Creative Soul is also looking for it's next group of artists who are
ready to move their ministry to a whoile new level. If that's you,
check out the new Creative Soul Records and see what our artists are
doing! http://www.CreativeSoulRecords.com