When markets become unstable, the resulting domino-effect immediately prompts a reassessment of inventory and resources by businesses and consumers, informing their behavior amidst economic turmoil and uncertainty. As artists and creatives work to adapt to the economic ebb tide resulting from the global spread of coronavirus, they are also faced with reassessing the ratio of their creative and financial reserves against the realities of the marketplace in reevaluating their personal and professional priorities and investments. Despite the obvious need for practicality and realism in managing resources, efforts towards self preservation can sometimes inadvertently lead to a rationing of faith, and by extension, a rationing of the supportive actions and investment behavior that cultivate and engineer creativity, artistic evolution and innovation. In the midst of current market fluctuations and economic downturn, how can artists and creatives attract abundance, while exercising the necessary pragmatism to secure and sustain their careers?
Through mentorship and relationship with the Creator, as the author of creativity, the ratio of creativity to economic income for artists can grow to supersede and appreciate beyond the metrics of dollars and cents through the practice of faith and gratitude. Faith, as expressed through the nurturing and expression of creativity, works proactively towards the development of the fiscal and creative irrigation ducts that prepare an artist’s platform for the shifting of economic tides. Conversely, a lack of faith, and particularly of gratitude, often results in a rationing of faith and the correlating actions that facilitate creative growth and abundance.
Christ repeatedly stressed the necessity and value of faith and gratitude towards realizing abundance throughout his teachings—as seen in the following passage of scripture:
“Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one sparrow is forgotten by God. Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows.”
Christ also demonstrated the principles of faith and gratitude towards cultivating abundance through the feeding of the five thousand—a miracle which gave witness to the provision of the multitude from five loaves of bread and two fish, through the aforementioned 5:2 ratio, as documented in the passage of scripture below:
“He ordered the people to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. Everyone ate and had enough. Then the disciples took up twelve baskets full of what was left over.”
The importance of faith towards gaining professional and creative strategy and insight for artists and creatives is further illustrated in Christ’s healing of the woman with the issue of blood. As Christ confirmed to onlookers, her faith made her well, as evidenced in her continual pursuit of wellness. Upon hearing of Christ and his creative power that day, the woman worked against the weight of chronic anemia, despite having little time to strategize the hows of reaching him through the crowd with limited strength. Her only option was to touch the hem of his cloak, as she was physically unable to compete with the throngs of people surrounding Christ. Her faith in his ability to facilitate her wellness, also provided the strategy and insight needed to gain wellness—as seen below:
“As Jesus went along, the people were crowding him from every side. Among them was a woman who had suffered from severe bleeding for twelve years; she had spent all she had on doctors, but no one had been able to cure her. She came up in the crowd behind Jesus and touched the edge of his cloak, and her bleeding stopped at once.”
In retrospect, if the woman had rationed her faith towards mere survival in seclusion, allowing cultural laws to prohibit her mobility, in her being deemed "unclean", she may not have been in the radius of Christ’s passage through the town. Additionally, if she had rationed out her strength and optimism for a day where she physically and mentally felt up to her pursuit of wellness, she may have missed the opportunity altogether. Her lifestyle of faith positioned her for access to the creative power of the Creator, as expressed through Christ’s humanity.
When artists and creatives create and manage their resources from a mindset of faith and gratitude, it provides space for the multiplication of their creativity and resources through the exponential creative power and insight of the Creator.