inspiration vs. perspiration
i was thinking about that quote that’s attributed to thomas edison, that creativity (or is it genius?) is 99 percent perspiration and one percent inspiration. & i was thinking again about Jesus being with God the Father at the beginning, "all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that has been made..." the very creativity of God personified, & now He lives in our hearts. i often think about Jesus as a placemaker--He's gone to prepare a place for us! so how do we companion with Jesus in our creativity, & flip around that 99 & 1 percent? i got a glimpse into this last week with the girls' room which all three—heron, poppy, & willow, share. i've really been praying about all of the creative choices that need to be made in our new/old house to build a home (which are also linked to financial decisions, & i want to be a good steward). & i'm trying to not move forward until i have a clear vision, room-by-room because it's fun to test out my theory of divine creative partnering & inspiration. it's like practicing agnes sanford's faith prayers for healing on languishing flower seedlings--low risk. for me, sometimes placemaking these days looks like 99% online research. but in my heart i know, if i'm partnered with Jesus in this creative act, it should be 1% perspiration/research, 99% inspiration & joyful implementation, not toil.
i was practicing that with the girls' room, & one morning my quiet time very easily flowed into a creative imagining time with the Lord. in one fell swoop i had a vision for the girls' room, right down to the homemade accent pillows of ticking stripe (not shown) & liberty of london florals. i quickly gathered together the pieces online--the beds ($140 each for metal beds!!!), fabric & linens, & the following day i went to antique stores & effortlessly found all the remaining furniture i needed for that space. like He really planned it all out for me. (i even met the owner of one of the booths while she was cleaning out her space, she's a christian, had the best booth in the whole antique mall, she gave me everything 30% or more off, i got a sweet cabinet for $75 instead of $175, & we even ended up going to her shop in her barn a few days later to pick up a few more pieces). i think this is the ideal, right? a really practical implication, a practical theology for "doing what i see my Father doing". not spinning my wheels or overexerting myself in areas that aren't working, but waiting until i have a clear creative vision in a particular area from the Lord. partnering with Him in that thing, feeling the vigor of creative inspiration, the pleasure of co-creating with the very author of the ultimate creative act—the creation of the whole world!
all of these thoughts feel like they have serious implications, not just homemaking ones. i'm married to someone who, while divinely-inspired, has toiled hard, perspired buckets, & bears the marks of it still in his body (though presently experiencing healing in so many ways! 🙌🏻) . that's what self-effort can look like, a premature breaking-down of the human frame. so i'm curious about what entering into Jesus' promised easy yoke can look like in the creative & professional realm. i see Jesus pre-incarnate singing & laughing over the waters He's speaking into existence, a confident inspiration, a joyful implementation. i see Him in ministry "relaxed," as dallas willard says of Him, His most notable feature. recently i watched a short video of makoto fujimura talking about his own theology of making, & he said he often begins his art-making with moments of stillness before the Lord, saying over & over, "i don't know what i'm doing, i don't know what i'm doing..." to me, this is the humility of the empty vessel, waiting to be filled with the Spirit's divine inspiration, & leaving the toil of creativity up to Him.
