The make-up of the big picture is painted with the little by little found in our day to day. Those decisions we make, sometimes without even knowing it. Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the ever swinging emotions life throws our way… but little by little we choose to come back to God and sit and wait. Sometimes we hear Him clearly. Sometimes we wait some more.
I started writing songs when I was a teenager, the awkward nature of a tangibly rejected heart… Now I am still writing but those moments are far and few between; However when I get the chance, I love it! Songs sung from the deepest parts within embody everything within a season. I’m the first to admit, it’s definitely a new process with kids, they’re privy to the process I have never previously let anyone into. The place where the wrong notes/chords/words/phrases live perpetually; the mistakes, the failure, the stupid lyrics, the doubt, the fear, the tacky nature of certain phrases, the disappointment when creativity is stunted, the place of tension in hating the gift yet wishing I was better; and on the flip side the place of raw creativity, the beauty, the gift, the freedom found when I’m lost in worship… the insight into the artist in me. A place I show no-one but God.
Though, it’s harder and all the more vulnerable with their little soul soaking it all in like a sponge, yet I still persist. This time, this season is precious, I won’t always get time where I can just sit and create at my piano… so I make the most of it. In my younger years, I would be fortunate enough to sit down, write a song and be on my way with little reflection on refining a finished product. In this season it looks more like, a few lines recorded on a voice memo, a quick melody, a few chords at the piano, whilst a constant creative frustration niggling at the back of my mind for not quite being able to get this ‘blob’ in my head out! Yet I’m modeling persistence. I’m demonstrating the hard yard. The “it doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen” to my kids, whom over the years will look back and see I was consistent, I stepped out when I could little by little. I made room for it in our lives because I gave it importance. It’s no longer a private moment, but a liberating one I’m inclined to then open to others. I know I’m showing them how to do something I am passionate about and whilst my boys might not ever write a song they’ll attempt their own things with their gifts, they’ll wrestle, they’ll create. I’m grateful they get to see first hand, from the very outset, that failure is a part of the journey; They’ll see anything worth pursuing takes practice and hardwork, they’ll witness a non-perfected creation, all of these are a mix of all things tried and some days not won. I like that.
So as we sit and wait on God with others present. We demonstrate our faithfulness to the call. We desire our efforts in private and those that overflow in public to be in fact the make-up of the bigger picture and spur the next generation on towards their calling. So can I encourage you today: keep persisting with what God has given you, one step at a time; keep accumulating, keep carving out time; keep showing up; keep being Jesus; keep practicing; keep being the example even if you don’t feel like it; keep on keeping on and just keep going. Little by little you will pave the way for others to follow in. A new generation of worshipers, a new generation of brave, a new generation of determined, a new generation of creatives! Little by little.