Kristen Wright
“God put plenty of beauty in the world. It’s the artist’s job to find it, dig it out of the clay and clean it up for presentation.” - Donald Miller
I was there when they filmed this scene. That night was electric. I’ve never seen actors so soul tied to their craft.
In the Final Scene of Blue Like Jazz, the Actors Aren’t Acting
The final scene in Blue Like Jazz is bold. Very bold. What filmmaker is willing to close a movie with eight minutes of dialogue that takes place in a single location? But that’s exactly what Steve Taylor did in…
I will never forget reading this blog post by Donald Miller. I think about it often when I hear people slam their gifts. For example, if Michael Jordan was all like, “I’m an average basketball player.” This is what I like to call “false humility” or possibly ignorance. Because there are two possibilities here: you can either be aware of your talent and choose to deny your gift for the sake of appearing impressively humble, or you can be completely ignorant of how good you are.
I believe you have to have a pretty solid ego to do creativity with your life.
Now that doesn’t mean arrogance, but that does mean awareness. Ego intrinsically means “self.” Be aware of yourself.
If you want to do creativity with your life, I hope you know deep in your gut that what you do is good…or worth it. Creativity isn’t easy. On the contrary, it is risky — and a lot of fun. But don’t go jumping in if you don’t know your ego.
Here’s one: If I gave you a diamond and your response was, “It’s a pretty average rock.” I’d probably be pretty upset! And I’m really nice!
If God has given you the ability to sing, write, cook, build, communicate, whatever — and your response to a compliment is, “I’m okay.” I believe you are telling God that his gift was just…eh, okay.
Having awareness of self and the gifts you have is to be, without needing to fish for compliments or impressively rub your nose in the dirt.
If someone says, “You’re great!” Say thank you with graciousness and then thank your Giver…then keep using your talent, it is an act of worship and a reflection of what God is doing.
That being said — I’m so excited about this EP! It is going to be sooo gooood! :)
This scene along with the one I’m an extra in was filmed at Scarritt Bennett in Nashville. I could not be more excited about this film!!
For a creator, procrastination is very rarely about being lazy.
And we know it.
It took me half a month to sit down an write down my plans for this EP project—I was afraid. The moment I put my dream on paper, I committed.
That’s terrifying.
And I wanted to write about this, and it took me half a month more to sit here and write a blog about being afraid…because I wanted it to be so good.
Fear is the greatest enemy of creativity.
I had the opportunity to listen to Jon Acuff (author of “Stuff Christians Like” and “Quitter”) speak two weeks ago and he said to do yourself a favor and start creating despicable, horrible, work. He said it would be far worse to peak immediately only to decline. We’re so afraid of making something bad, because we know what kind of work we want to make, so we wait for some sort of divine intervention.
And don’t get me wrong. God is a very important part of being creative. He is THE Creator, after all—but He certainly isn’t going to give you your best work while your working your way through your favorite television DVD series.
But I sit there, because I’ll be feeling more creative tomorrow…
The reality of the situation is that if we embrace the possibility that we may create something sub-par, we will find ourselves creating…and chances are, your work may need a little work—but it’s there, isn’t it?
And the truth is, we like the idea of our imaginary work and all it could be…And the lie is, we can only make it a reality on a really special day, someday…
Can I give you a little advice? Start by writing down your dream.
It doesn’t have to be complete or productive, but write it down. Then set aside time to think over how you will accomplish your dream. Whether it’s a song, a business, a home furnishing project…Write it down. Then write down what you need to do to accomplish it—suddenly, you may find you are equipped to bring your imagination to reality.
Now then, if you’re anything like me. You are a master to-do list writer, and a horrible doer.
Set aside time for your dream. (I know this one is a “duh” comment…but I promise it’s the hardest one.) In my weekly calendar, I have blocked out “Holy Practice Hour” in each of my days. My intention is to set aside the rest of my to-do list to practice my music and work on my dream…have I successfully kept to Holy Practice Hour…sometimes. I’ll have you hold me accountable!
The point is, if you aren’t intentional about the time you give to your dream, A. You won’t work and B. As Jon Acuff says, “It’s not your dream.”
What kind of time and courage is your dream worth to you?
I had the honor of playing an extra in this movie. Words cannot describe how incredibly thrilled I am to be apart of this AMAZING project. It’s being screened at this very moment for the first time in Portland. For now, here’s the trailer.
