One of my favorite quotes outside the Bible these days comes from a strange place. I’ve never been a huge Stephen King fan (or I should say, never a big horror-book/movie fan – this probably stems from having seen The Shining on TV when I was a kid and my parents weren’t home and never recovering, but that’s for another day…). But he’s a brilliant writer and creative, and I have respect for that talent. He said this, about the creative process and those who wait around for inspiration:
“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just get up and go to work.”
On many levels, I love this quote. I believe that doing something creative, like writing, is 1 part inspiration, 9 parts discipline. I’ve heard lots of people (songwriters, authors, musicians, artists, etc) say something like “I want to _____ (write, paint, compose, whatever) but I need to wait until I’m inspired.” I used to buy into this, but now I believe it’s a load, and here’s why – sometimes it takes doing it for awhile to get to the inspiration. In other words, you can’t wait for the inspiration before you start. Often I find you have to START whatever it is you want to do, trusting that the INSPIRATION WILL COME. The key to doing something creative is not “having more creativity”, or “inspiration” – it’s DISCIPLINE.
On a larger scale, there is an element of FAITH here, and this is why I think this idea is not simply for those engaged in the artistic process. Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” There are lots of times in life when we have to act on what we know to be true, even if we don’t feel it – even if we don’t feel the presence of God at that moment. I think sometimes, God is saying, “Do you trust me enough to take a step and do what’s right, even if you don’t feel my presence? (inspiration?)”.
We want to wait for a lightning bolt or skywriting to tell us what we’re supposed to do. I think we need to be praying for the faith to take the next step (before the inspiration comes) more than we need to be praying for God to give us a great feeling about it, or the mapquest directions on how to get there.
So if you’re reading this today, where in your life do you need to stop waiting for inspiration, and just get to work?
