Creative Encouragement: You CAN Finish Your Project

Do you have a creative project that feels like it’s never going to be done? Something you’ve been working with off and on for years? As a writer, I run into people all the time who feel this way. (One of them sometimes stares back from the mirror.)

I feel a divine unction to offer you some encouragement today. And I think it can apply to any art form that takes time to develop.

You can finish your project.

My first book, Finding Divine Inspiration, took 10 years from the first keystroke to the final published product. It was 10 years of stopping and starting, fear and courage, discouragement and encouragement. Now, its hard to imagine my life without it.  I think my most important accomplishment in that process was that I took God’s invitation to partner with him in translating a message that was, and is, so much bigger than anything I could come up with on my own. The goal is that that kind of continued partnership would be the hallmark of my life.

Wherever you are in your creative process, take heart. Has God called and affirmed that you are to work on this project? Yes? Don’t give up.

Imagine your favorite book. Think about what you love about it.

Imagine your favorite song, how it makes you feel.

Imagine your favorite movie, how it inspires you.

Now, imagine your world without them, without ever even knowing they could have existed.

Wouldn’t that world be a little less vibrant? A little less like home?

What if that idea that God has given you could impact someone like your favorite books, movies, or songs have touched and enriched your life?  What if following through on that project could make the world a better place? What if in the process of finishing it you felt a sense that you were fulfilling your destiny? What if this project is one of the things God planned for you before the world began?

So here is your encouragement: push through on this thing that God has given you. If not for you, then for others who might be touched. If not for them, then for God, who gave it to you because he wanted it to exist, and wanted to enrich your time on this earth in the process.

If he’s given that project to you, he’ll provide a way for you to finish it.

“But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.” 2 Chronicles 15:7

J. Scott McElroy is the author of Finding Divine Inspiration (Destiny Image) and The Creative Church Handbook: Releasing the Power of the Arts in Your Congregation (InterVarsity Press). He directs The New Renaissance Arts Movement and blogs at JScottMcElroy.com. Reach him at Scott(at)TheNewR.org