Sat, Feb 2
... How does your garden grow?
The balance between ego and humility is a fine line. As a Christian artist, it's so easy to fall to one extreme or the other. Either we say, "It's not me at all. It's all God, he did it all, I did nothing," or we fall to the other extent and say, "I'm so great, look what I did!" It's a hard balance to reach, though.
Yes, God gives the gift and the talent in the first place. He's the one who makes me able to sing, who makes people able to write, act, build, preach, anything. Without him, I would be nothing. I wouldn't be able to put any of the talents he's given me to use, because I wouldn't have any to use.
At the same time, though, when I do a show, I put hours of work into it. I pour myself into it and it becomes a part of my life. I research, work, pray, and dedicate myself to making it the very best it can be. But when someone compliments me afterwards and tells me I did a good job, do I have to discredit all my work and say, "I did nothing"? I didn't do nothing! No, I didn't give myself the talents, but I did use them honorably.
I heard an analogy once that talent is like a garden. God can give me the most beautiful garden in the world, but if I don't take care of it and tend it, all it'll ever be is a patch of weeds. Someone else was talking about how his dad taught him how to play guitar. Within a few years, he had completely surpassed his dad in skill, but he said that he still loved going back and showing his dad what he'd learned, or how he'd mastered some difficult skill. It wasn't so that he could show off, or say, "Look how great I am," but it was so he could say to his dad, "Look at how I've built and developed the time and the talent you invested in me," and it reassures his dad that it was a worthwhile investment.
Wouldn't it make sense that God wants the same from us? He gives us all this great potential, and if we only ever build it to half of what it could be, we're cheating God, in a way. Wouldn't it make sense that he gave us the ability and the potential, so he would want to see it become all it can be. Not so we can prove that we're great, but so that it can bring greater glory to him and we use what he gives us, what he created in us to be birthed.
So where does the balance lie? I'm not exactly sure. Somewhere in the nether place between false humility and self degredation, and ego.
infinite || abyss
posted at 11:18 p.m.
