Apples of Gold

One, two, buckle my shoe. Three, four, shut the door. Five, six, pick up sticks. Seven, eight, lay them straight. Nine, ten, begin again.

So begins (and ends, and then begins again :) a simple poem many of us learned as a child. The simplest of writing can catch in our hearts and stay with us forever. The same is true of a simple melody. A song we haven't heard in twenty years can come on the radio and we find ourselves singing along. Why is that? Why do some things stick and some things slide away? Why do some books end up on our favorites shelf and others we're happy to donate to the local mission?

The reasons are varied, I suppose. Some tunes are just catchy. Some things have patterns (like iambic pentameter) that make sense to our spirits - that somehow ground us in the intangible realm of creative flow. The right book will land with a thud in our spirit if read at just the right time. This is no accident (apples of gold in settings of silver?). 

The old Chinese proverb says that when the student is ready the teacher will come. Our teachers can be real people, or they can be real books, poems, songs, paintings, sculpture, a movie or the experience of a vibrant landscape. 

I've had several of these experiences over the years, as I'm sure you have too. They are the defining moments of a life well-lived. Experiences that leave us breathless. I listed a couple of my favorite authors / books recently on my blog. 

But there are songs too. And poems. And paintings. And it doesn't really matter if mine are the same as yours. What matters is that they exist for both of us. Because I believe that God has put into each of us the capacity to connect to the divine. I'll even go so far as to say that each of these experiences you can think of - each of these connections - has at its core are a connection to the divine, either the creativity that inspired the work itself, or the timing of your experience of the work being perfectly able to breathe something new into your spirit in that moment - something that leaves you altered. 

As artists we seek to connect to the divine in order to create something meaningful - something that will last beyond today's newspaper headlines and even this week's best seller list. But as patrons of art, we seek the very same connection in reverse. Instead of giving out of that connection, it is just as vital at times that we seek to take it in. This is both crucial and inevitable - the feeding of our own soul and spirit that fuels our ability to give back out. Like The Lion King's "circle of life", the connection - the breathing in time - has a give and a take - both an 'in' and an 'out'. 

We spend a lot of time on this blog talking about the act of creation. But there is a resting phase built into every pumping beat of the heart - an infilling of freshly oxygenated blood that allows us to give life to the rest of the body.

So...What fills you?

What gives you life?

Restores your energy?

 

In all your expending of creative energy don't forget to back fill.

Go where the life is.

Feed your soul.

Balance your spirit. 

And breathe...

 

Madison Richards lives and writes in New York. She blogs here and there, and can be found at The Master's Artist every other Tuesday. 

 

Comments

[Jeanne Damoff]

Good word, Madison. I think the things that fill me most are unexpected glimpses of raw beauty, family, music, and worship. It's sometimes hard for artists to silence the inner material gatherer and to simply be present in the moments of our lives. But, like you said, we need to. If our art is the flower, our living deep is the soil.

Thanks for this reminder.

Love to you.

[Joelle]

This might seem trite, but I've found a bit of 'filling' and invigorating just in wandering around Etsy.com. It is such a wonder and a blessing to see the plethora of creative gifts God has lavished upon people, and the many ways they are displayed there, as well as the delight of seeing artists invest in their passions, talents, and dreams. I've found it heartening, delightful, and inspiring to my own creativity as well.

[Madison Richards]

Thanks Jeanne... I love your analogy of how living deep is the soil I may use that one again!

Joelle - Agreed! I am constantly being both inspired and challenged by that which I read or see all over the Internet. Of course it has its life-sucking inherent evils, but there is also a lot of good here - you just have to dig a little for it!