Waiting for Your Dream while you work the B job

There is no such thing as overnight success. Quentin Tarentino made a film before his "overnight success first film Resevoir Dogs." George Lucas made a film no one remembers before "American Grafitti."
You are making progress. Remember, progress not perfection.
It's common for the creative dreams, the A job of your art and passion to take time to develop. While you are working a B job temporarily to pay the rent, remember the seeds you plant are gestating under ground, and one day you will see the lawn coming in and the spring flowers blooming.
You take the lessons from every failure into your next project, and nothing is wasted for the artist. There is material for your art even in the B job.
It takes time to learn your craft as an artist. Waiting is the hard part.
The Bible says, "Do not become weary, you shall reap in due season if you do not faint." (Galatians, chapter six)

God-given Talent

"There are two kinds of talent, man-made talent and God-given talent. With man-made talent you have to work very hard. With God-given talent, you just touch it up once in a while..." (Pearl Bailey, singer, actress)

A recent study discovered 75% of all workers experience stress-related physical pain or sickness. When we are doing something man-made, it drains us. When we operate in our purpose and gifts, it enflames us.
You will know when you are doing your passion because you feel happy, inspired, and you lose track of time. Is it that late already? Hours seem like minutes.
When you are working for money or obligation, time will crawl. Minutes seem like hours.
That which God has designed you to do flows, it touches others when you do it. It is deeply spiritual. You feel God's pleasure upon you. Work feels like play. Play flows into work and work flows into play. God works in you to will and desire it. (Phillipians 2:13)
The Bible says,"life is a vapour that appeareth for a moment than vanishes away." (James 4:14) Seize your remaining days to do what you are passionate about.
Matthew 25 says each one is given God-given talents. Don't bury them in the sand, take the risk. Dance the dance! Write the screenplay! Decorate! Perform!
Act! Sing!
Don't let the song inside be buried with you. We need to hear it.
Share your God-given talent, and others will be blessed.

What is an Artist?

Artist (n.)- Someone who chooses to express their creative spirit, revealing the call of their soul, through artistic passions and authentic approaches to living life. Someone who is not afraid to share his or her true self with others.

(Source: "The Nine Modern Day Muses," Jill Badonsky, M. Ed.)

God's Poem

The Creator and creativity are in symbiotic relationship. As we connect to one, we have the opportunity to soar in our awareness to the other. Art begets art. Artists support other artists.

God, the Master artist composed a poem. God's poem is described in the scripture, "For we are God's workmanship." (Ephesians 2:10)

The greek word for "workmanship" is poime, or "poem."

YOU ARE GOD'S POEM

The psalmist writes that God "narrates our lives, as a tale that is told."
Your life is a living expression of art.

As you get in touch with your creative gifts, which are a part of God's creativity, you are giving a gift back to Him, and bringing joy to His face.

What a marvelous collection of gifts He has wrapped up in you. But even if you never used them again, you are no less precious to Him, because He loves you unconditionally.

You are God's poem.

Artist's Prayer

I wrote a prayer I would like to share with you.

ARTIST'S PRAYER
Thank you God for the talents You've entrusted to me
and that my creativity is a small part of Your creativity.
I glorify You with my art as an act of worship.

Release me from the extremes of grandiosity and
inferiority that I may effect others with my work and
carry Your message forward.

I surrender my talents to You, knowing You will flow
through them in just the right way.

I open myself to Your direction and abundance that I
may know joy and peace in my work.
AMEN

Art and God

God is the ultimate artist, the Master Creator. And guess what? Artists love artists. Artists support other artists. So connecting with God, through prayer, journaling, mediation, and scripture, will nourish the seeds of creativity inside you, so you can be fruitful.

Art is an enduring seed. Over the weekend, I watched the film "Intolerance" shot in Hollywood in 1916. I was drawn in by the story, and moved by the universal themes, even though it was shot before my parents were born.

As we turn over our gifts into the hands of the Master Artist, recognizing our creativity is a small part of His creativity, He flows though our talents to be of service to Him and to the world.

The Holy Spirit is creative. God created everything and saw that it was good. Art is a ministry, and ministry is an art. Creativity is one of the most spiritual experiences we can have. That's why even the audience has an emotional reaction in the movie theatre or listening to music at a concert.

Free from the partisan obligations of the politician, or the religious dogma of the doctrinaire, artists can be honest, telling the truth about God, the human heart, and the world. Artists air out the closets, and bring the healing light of truth into the darkened theatre. And we cry, we relate vicariously, we experience the dramatic catharsis Socrates described.

The arts are all related, springing from the same seed. That's why working on music can improve your filmmaking, writing poetry may improve your acting, doing a collage makes your cooking more experimental, or cleaning the apartment opens doors for your art, etc...

So write!! Create! Do something fun and frivolous that the child within you wants to do. Leave behind the legacy of something you create, whether it's a poem, a quilt, a drawing, a song, a film, a ministry, a play, a sculpture, a painting. When you create, you express the image of God.

Recommended Reading: The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
Art and the Bible by Francis Schaeffer
Addicted to Mediocrity by Franky Schaeffer