Faith plays an important part in the development of the creative career—empowering artists with the confidence and ability to take the necessary action steps and risks to realize their craft and potential. In addition, practicality and common sense are also instrumental in strengthening and sustaining an artist’s career arc in their ability to successfully recognize and evaluate the need for change and avoid the hands-free decision-making that often results in unnecessary pitfalls due to a lack of knowledge or accountability.
Despite their co-existence as career assets, for some artists, the balance of faith and practicality can sometimes lead to career paralysis or flawed compassing in their desire for insurance against the fragility of hope. In navigating the risks and turning points of the creative career, how can artists graduate from a need for insurance to a state of increased confidence and knowing against the odds of the unknown?
Regardless of an artist’s desire for insurance through factual knowledge, the wattage of that knowledge is dim at best against the omniscience of the Creator, as the author and source of creativity. Similar to the Apostle Paul, whose academic knowledge of religious law graduated to an innate knowing of the Creator’s power and insight through his exposure to the light of Christ’s voice on the fateful day of his conversion—there is a knowing and confidence that is available to artists through the lucidity of the Creator’s knowledge that informs their creativity.
The power within the light of his mentorship and influence can ultimately work to overshadow the thoughts, doubts and indecision that work against the hope that lives within the talents and gifts bestowed by him for the greater good of every artist—and by extension, for the good of those they serve.
When artists come into the knowing of the hope that resides at the center of their creative capacity, they also come into the knowing of the wealth, power and strength within them towards effective creativity—a creativity that reflects the intent of the Creator, versus a limited creativity based on the reflection of their own image. The light of that knowing also serves to illuminate and reveal false confidences and implicit biases that inhibit an artist’s potential for growth.
The advantages found in the illuminative power and strength of the Creator's will and intent towards an artist's talents and gifts was emphasized in the following excerpt from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians:
“For this reason we have always prayed for you, ever since we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, with all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives. Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength which comes from his glorious power, so that you may be able to endure everything with patience. And with joy give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to have your share of what God has reserved for his people in the kingdom of light.”
The Apostle Paul also highlighted the advantages of the light found within the Creator’s hope and intent for humanity--and by extension, towards artists in support of their creativity--in the following excerpt from his letter to the Ephesians:
“I have not stopped giving thanks to God for you. I remember you in my prayers and ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you the Spirit, who will make you wise and reveal God to you, so that you will know him. I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people, and how very great is his power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world.”
When artists are able to center their faith and practicality under the light of the Creator’s hope and intent, they can successfully strengthen their confidence against their need for insurance, as they navigate the gray areas of the creative career.