When it comes to creativity or art we settle. We settle for predictable. We try to eliminate the mess. And in doing so we cheat ourselves of the experience of the mysterious.
The mysterious is often unpredictable. It is messy. But, it takes us outside of ourselves and can give us a glimpse into a Kingdom that is and is to come…that is far greater than anything we have ever or will ever experience here on this earth.
It leaves us completely overwhelmed by the greatness and wonder of our God.
It is found in the moments and experiences that give us chills and leave us speechless. The ones we want to pause and stay in just a while longer. The moments that so many of us are craving and at the same time are afraid of.
And we’re afraid of them because they’re unpredictable. We can’t pre-write and pre-plan them in a script or minute by minute production schedule. Most of the time they’re hard to measure. We can’t know ahead of time how people are going to react and respond. And so, we avoid them.
And I can’t help but wonder if we avoid them because we’ve convinced ourselves that we shouldn’t do anything unless we can measure the results. And we’ve wrongly convinced ourselves that the results are up to us. We forget that we are called to plant and to water. The growing…the results…that’s up to God. And I wonder how much more we could plant & water if we were willing to surrender the predictable for the mysterious in our art.