An Honest Offering

This evening I came across the following quote as I was sifting through some old work. It is an excerpt from an article I wrote awhile back (and edited by my lovely wife, who until just now was without credit).

If, as artists, we are truly carrying the gospel with us in our daily experiences, through breakfast and meetings and coffee breaks and creative brainstorming sessions, then it should spill out quite naturally into the art we create. It is inherently marked and stamped by the truth we hold onto in the center of ourselves. It is our act of worship. It is our most unique and holy offering to the Creator of the Universe. This offering does not need to be big, better, slick, or sweet, it needs only to be honest.

The article was written just before I started working at Willow Creek and yet it feels like I wrote it this morning. A year into the job I often find myself way too focused on the product rather than the personal process of how I’m getting there. As such, I sometimes feel overwhelmed at the idea of creating yet another piece of art. Believing the personal process to be more important, both for the artist and the audience, I’m taking the quote to heart as if I hadn’t written it. Possibly you’ll find it helpful as well.