Your Art has always been with you

“We write, we make music, we draw pictures, because we are listening for meaning, feeling for healing. And during the writing of the story or the painting or the composing or singing or playing, we are returned to that open creativity which was ours when we were children. We cannot be mature artists if we have lost the ability to believe which we had as children. An artist at work is in a condition of complete and total faith.”

When I lose my way as an artist, or when I simply need a reminder of why I do what I do, I often turn back to this book, Walking on Water, by Madeline L’Engle. It is a source of great connection for me on what it means to be an artist and a Christ follower. For me, the two are very much related, and always in service of each other. Because I am wired this way I am in a constant state of reflection, and observing the world around me as if there is a pregnant question in the atmosphere that I must answer, or a statement that I must proclaim. If you are at all wired like me, you can relate to this, and possibly you need these words to read to be reminded, as if you are seeing your reflection in a mirror, yet again. Let this be your reminder today that you are in fact an artist, and your work has always been with you.