Why did God rest on the seventh day? Because He had done His work so well on days one through six that He did not need to go back over it and tinker with it. Artists who want to be Spirit-led would do well to learn from this.
I heard this from Randy, one of my four crazy friends. Randy is an artist, and we were talking about the relentless perfectionism that makes artists go over a project again and again. He said God had told him, “I’ve called you to kingdom excellence, but not to compulsive perfectionism.”
Then God had explained, “When I created, it was finite. Day by day, I finished the day’s work, and it was good. Then I didn’t go back over it again and again.”
Rndy’s words struck a nerve with me. As JoAnn and I prepared her book, Mind Lost Mind Found for self-publication, we created so many versions of the cover that it became a family joke. There’s nothing wrong with trying one font and then another in a layout; nothing wrong with the tinkering we did. But the work began to seem infinite. Before long, I decided not to use the word “final” in a file. Soon we would have “Final #3” or “Final #5” and all the way up to #8, only to start over again the next day.
Of course, we’re not God.
But as Randy noted, he’s learning to trust the flow of the Holy Spirit as he works, and not second-guess everything every step of the way.
As Randy and I visited, his wisdom washed over me. It was very timely as I prepare to write another book – What The Blood Of Jesus Has Done For You.
It should take about a month to write. It’ll be short and user-friendly, with a lot of word pictures. I include editing and revising as part of the workflow, but won’t let it become obsessive.
Sometimes the hardest part of an artist’s job is knowing when to leave something alone. Tinkering doesn’t always make the work better. Sometimes we ruin it.
Anyway, I look forward to starting the book, but it won’t be this week.
Nevertheless, I’m still planning one more editorial step in the workflow. When the whole thing is finished, I’ll read it from one end to the other and allow myself to rewrite the weakest section or chapter – and that’ll be it.
Thanks, Randy, for a word of wisdom that’s sure to save the Smith family a lot of grief.
Stan Smith :: © 2011, GospelSmith :: www.GospelSmith.com
