In my creativity coaching, I’m frequently asked to help people discover their true calling. Most don’t realize how their current job and interests might connect to a larger creative calling. 

How do you typically start your day?

Do fears and worries of the day immediately rush at you? Or does your to-do list immediately demand your attention? Perhaps you tend to wake a mad-dash panic because you hit snooze three times and now you’re running late? Or maybe your first instinct is to reach for your distraction device (hello iPhone).

The life you have with God—while you create—has an immense impact on the final creation.  

When you find yourself struggling with an issue you thought you'd overcome, it’s helpful to view the process like steps on a spiral staircase.  

If your art were posted in your front yard, would it reveal more about what you love…or what you’re against? 

You can do a lot. But you can’t do it all.

The world dangles endless choices before us. We’re encouraged to do more, say more, try more, and achieve more. Good grief, the posters at my gym proclaim: “You Can Do It All.” It plays to the illusion that we really can do it all and have it all if we just somehow learn to balance everything in our lives perfectly (or maybe join the right health club).

The life you have with God while creating determines the life your art or service will have.

In the midst of all you have to do today, what matters most can get fuzzy. Let this provide some clarity.

Before a new journey can truly begin anew, there must be an end to the status quo.

I have a big truck. And my most cherished memories in it involve my son Chase.

As a young boy, he loved riding shotgun with me. Whenever I headed for the truck, he’d jump up in, pull up the console that separated driver from passenger, and slide right next to me. Arm against arm. Leg against leg. Excited and expectant for wherever we’d go together.

I have a life verse. It isn’t tattooed on my body, but it is on my heart.

“Stay with God. Take Heart; Don’t Quit. I’ll say it again, Stay with God!” (Psalm 27:14 MSG)   

Imagine receiving a hand-crafted, leather journal with this note:

“This is your adventure journal for our times together. Have fun. Love, God.”

Here are five big lies the enemy will use to try and drain your creativity and numb your heart:

What limits do you place on your creativity? 

You may be certain there’s too little money to fund your dream. Or not enough time to start—or finish—the project at hand. Maybe you doubt anyone would care. Perhaps you’re stuck in neutral with no traction for moving forward. 

My high school senior and I were having a hard night at home. I’d gotten us tickets to a movie for a father / son night together. But things were quickly derailing. 

He had a few chores to do before we left but was stalling and complaining. I could feel my heart tanking. By the time the chores were finally done, so was I. Everything in me wanted to call the plans off. 

When you give anyone or anything other than God the power to validate your creativity, you set yourself up for striving and disappointment. And you put a burden on your art that it was never meant to carry.

Your art doesn't make you. You make your art.

Your point of pain and your search for answers makes a powerful canvas for your next creation. The best journey anyone’s art can invite us into into is the costly one the artist must walk first. 

In other words, the best art begins as a personal expression.  

Curiosity drives creativity.

Big questions spark the best quests. Wonder sparks the imagination. Asking “What if?” and “Why?” opens our eyes to see the world, and us, in new ways.

My journey of speaking, writing, and teaching on God and creativity began one decade ago in the towering redwoods of California.

As a boy , Superman was my favorite super hero. He was pretty much invincible…except for one weakness.

Kryptonite.