Hmmmm, yes. Maintaining an abundance mindset is harder than most of us think, though, isn't it? What helps you cultivate this in your own life and work?
I have a comment on this thing of making art that has already been made or writing more words that have already been said. I’ve thought about this a lot. So here is my partial resolution: good art, like good literature, is more about formation than information (definitely not an original thought). Information can be valuable and worthwhile disconnected from persons like so many entries in an anonymous spreadsheet. But formation happens when persons, who are themselves icons of the divine, let their books and art be icons of them. A part of the divine life, Lore, comes through you, through your books, to shape us. And that is worth doing, because that is unique and not just more information. That is worth doing without it having to be better, even. That is worth doing for the same reason that it is always worth meeting new people, even though we have met so many of them before. People form us, not just inform us. So it is with art. And icons. Thanks for being an icon and for making them.
I really love these thoughts, Marshall. Thank you for sharing them. I'm going to pocket this thought in particular, "But formation happens when persons, who are themselves icons of the divine, let their books and art be icons of them." I love that. And I agree. It's one of the reasons I love Lewis's writing so much, you can tell he's allowing the words to form and reform him as he writes. I think the best writing does that and does it visibly instead of trying to hide it under the pretext of being an expert about everything.
This is a profoundly powerful and beautiful piece. It is also a wonderful inspiration to keep writing. I think you capture why as well as It’s ever been written.
Thank you for your beautiful words, inspiring me as a Christ-follower and a visual artist. We need the incarnation for the cross to make sense. "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree..(1 Peter 2:4)." www.BarbaraBjelland.com
Yes! The incarnation didn't just matter while Christ walked on the earth or while he sits at his Father's side now. It mattered ON the cross and indeed still matters.
I love this, Lore. Your words also remind me of the beauty of maintaining an abundance mindset in a culture screaming of scarcity.
Hmmmm, yes. Maintaining an abundance mindset is harder than most of us think, though, isn't it? What helps you cultivate this in your own life and work?
Thanks for this. You do good work.
I have a comment on this thing of making art that has already been made or writing more words that have already been said. I’ve thought about this a lot. So here is my partial resolution: good art, like good literature, is more about formation than information (definitely not an original thought). Information can be valuable and worthwhile disconnected from persons like so many entries in an anonymous spreadsheet. But formation happens when persons, who are themselves icons of the divine, let their books and art be icons of them. A part of the divine life, Lore, comes through you, through your books, to shape us. And that is worth doing, because that is unique and not just more information. That is worth doing without it having to be better, even. That is worth doing for the same reason that it is always worth meeting new people, even though we have met so many of them before. People form us, not just inform us. So it is with art. And icons. Thanks for being an icon and for making them.
I really love these thoughts, Marshall. Thank you for sharing them. I'm going to pocket this thought in particular, "But formation happens when persons, who are themselves icons of the divine, let their books and art be icons of them." I love that. And I agree. It's one of the reasons I love Lewis's writing so much, you can tell he's allowing the words to form and reform him as he writes. I think the best writing does that and does it visibly instead of trying to hide it under the pretext of being an expert about everything.
Lore,
This is a profoundly powerful and beautiful piece. It is also a wonderful inspiration to keep writing. I think you capture why as well as It’s ever been written.
Thank you,
Deb
Keep writing, yes, keep writing.
Thank you for your beautiful words, inspiring me as a Christ-follower and a visual artist. We need the incarnation for the cross to make sense. "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree..(1 Peter 2:4)." www.BarbaraBjelland.com
Yes! The incarnation didn't just matter while Christ walked on the earth or while he sits at his Father's side now. It mattered ON the cross and indeed still matters.