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Cultivating Discipline, Part 4: Habit-forming…

August 11, 2010 in being christian, creativity, leadership with 2 Comments

I am a creature-of-habit… There are restaurants where everybody knows my name and that I drink Dr. Pepper… But I’ve found a pattern:

It takes more time and purposefulness to develop a good habit (like going to the gym) than to develop a bad habit (like eating a whole bag of chips in front of the TV)…

Maybe you experience the same struggle: the inertia of the status quo makes forming new, better habits hard… it’s work… and when I’m honest with myself, I don’t really want to do the work…

And here’s the circular logic that I get tangled up in:

Cultivating discipline relies on forming better habits and forming better habits is an exercise in cultivating discipline…

A few tips that I’ve gleaned from the www:

1. The 21-Day Rule… Everybody is different and some research in the UK has indicated that there may even be people who are “habit-resistant,” but the average person will form a new habit by repeating the desired behavior for 21 days.

2. It’s OK to Get Help… There is a reason that Alcoholics Anonymous is successful… It relies heavily on the esprit de corps (“spirit of the group”) to help group members form new habits, relationships and coping skills. Having a workout partner or Bible study group can make forming a new habit more challenging and more fun.

3. Attitude is Everything… Optimistic people are 4 times more likely to achieve their goals. If you are a generally pessimistic person (you will know this is you because you like to describe yourself as “a realist”) then your first goal should be to discipline yourself toward positive thinking. It won’t make your rich, beautiful or thin overnight, but it will open your heart to the possibility of substantial changes.

4. Remind Yourself… If I decide today that I’m going to drink 8 glasses of water everyday, I have got to remember to do it TOMORROW… Forgetting my goals is a real problem… Write it down, tape it to your bathroom mirror, or the fridge, or that bag of Oreos… Re-commit every time you see it… Decide everyday to do it again.

5. Suck it up… Sometimes, you need to just get to work… because nobody pays you to believe in the power of your dreams. Sorry to sound harsh, but some of the most pivotal times in my life have been those moments when someone cared enough to kick me in the butt…

You might find this website helpful: Habit Watcher helps you track your progress toward multiple goals…

What habits are you trying to make? or break? What tools have helped you?

NEXT in this series: Suck It Up…

Artists in Church…

August 9, 2010 in being christian, creativity with 1 Comment

I’ve been exchanging emails with some upcoming FeaturedArtists… I’m finding a trend that is not surprising, but still somewhat disturbing to me:

The likelihood of a non-musical artist being activated in church is less than 20%…

This is largely a function of our worship forms… whether you’re in a progressive church or a full-gospel church, the primary form of christian worship is music. Outside of that, there are churches with theatrical programs or drama teams, but the kind of sketch drama that is predominate tends to repel actual theatrical artists in favor of a willing laity without any actual artistic training.

Not to dismiss the impact that willing laity can have, but my primary concern is the dramatic actor that is shunted into the role of a Sunday School teacher…

I recently became aware of a tremendous talent in our church that was completely overlooked… We’ll call him Gene…

Gene was pigeon-holed into an available slot in the youth ministry of our church… which, by the way, he was only marginally effective in… He finally gave up and went away. A few weeks ago, I saw Gene in a principal role in a local community theatre production. He was amazing. He has great comic timing, an excellent voice and such presence that he literally stole every scene…

As a pastor-type, I firmly believe that God has purpose in bringing individuals into a church. There is nothing accidental about the “living stones” that make up each church… call it “providence” or call it “serendipity” if you like, but don’t ignore it…

Explore it.

As church leaders, we need to explore ways of activating the artists in our churches or risk losing them… either to sheer boredom or to a church that will activate them.

As artists, we need to be offering our creativity to the leaders in our church. And when I say “we need,” I’m not stating a moral imperative… I am suggesting that it fulfills a need in our hearts to use our gifts.

No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl.
-Jesus, The Bible (Mark 4:21)

The most universal desire of artists in church is the desire to contribute artistically…

Can we make that happen? What are your thoughts?

Cultivating Discipline, Part 3: Character and Discipline…

August 2, 2010 in being christian, leadership with 1 Comment

As a particularly undisciplined person, I have often shrugged-off the connection between discipline and character… But lately, I’ve sort of been challenged to do things that only a person of great character could do…

And I don’t wanna…

I’m not whining, just generalizing in a way that I hope will challenge you to think about this…

Jesus told his followers that this world would throw hardship and trouble at them (John 16:33) but “take heart,” He said, “I have overcome the world.”

Could character be fueled by the discipline to do things that are difficult, painful or heart-killing?

This promise that Jesus overcame the world sometimes seems hollow in light of the very real pain that the world dishes out. But the same power that fueled Jesus is alive in those who follow Him…

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
- Paul, the Bible (Romans 8:35)

When Paul wrote these words, he was facing tremendous persecution, in the next verse he says that he faces the threat of death continuously… Then he goes on to answer his question:

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  (above, verse 37)

So, there is a supernatural work going on inside that gives us the potential to more-than-conquer (overcome even) some pretty extreme hardship… But I find that I am often way-laid by some simple slight… or thrown off-course by someone’s harsh words… or discouraged by the decisions of those in leadership…

Where’s the disconnect? What happened to all of the overcoming and more-than-conquering that I was supposed to experience? After I pray and repeat the promises to myself… After I conjure all of the spiritual-sounding jargon that has ever been thrown at me… If I’m still way-laid or off-course or discouraged, what am I missing?

Discipline?

Really?

I’m throwing this out for your consideration… I think I’m onto something life-changing.  You see, lately I’ve been discouraged and it effects every aspect of my life: I don’t feel like writing, don’t feel like balancing the checkbook, don’t feel like doing anything around the house, don’t feel like taking my daughter to the library… You get the idea, right?

But when I push past the feelings and do these things (that’s discipline, right?), something cool happens: I find that I have just a bit more “feeling” for the next thing… and the next thing… and the cumulative effect:

I’m overcoming that discouragement.

I think this is why Paul compares the life of a Christ-follower to the life of a distance-runner:

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training… I beat my body and make it my slave…
- Paul, The Bible (1 Corinthians 9:25, 27)

There is a balance between the work that Jesus did (when He overcame the world) and the discipline I need in order to access that work (to overcome obstacles in my own life)… Does that seem right to you? Do you see a similar truth in your own life?

NEXT in this series: Habit-forming…

Cultivating Discipline, Part 1…

July 20, 2010 in being christian, creativity, leadership with 3 Comments

Discipline is the anti-art…

Where we creatives like to live on the right side of our heads, the suggestion that we lack discipline is met with a shrug… “So what?” we retort.  Of course we lack discipline. Isn’t that the point?

We get it in our heads that talent, charisma and awesomeness is all we need to have a fantastically successful life… well, that and a good agent…

But there’s not a single success-story out there that hinges on talent, charisma or awesomeness… Not one that I’ve read, anyway.

Every successful author, performer or artist that I’ve ever read about has a story that hinges on discipline… the singular capacity to stay with a task until it is complete; the unwavering drive to take on the insurmountable obstacles that life seems to throw at talented, charismatic and awesome individuals.

I’ve now quite a few talented, charismatic and awesome folks that failed to launch… it’s sad really… a waste… but it happens all the time…

At some point or another in our lives, we must choose the path of greatest resistance… We have to weather storms and pass through dark valleys… We simply have to learn to discipline ourselves.

This is where it always falls apart for me: discipline isn’t something that I can just wish for or purchase or conjure.  If that were possible, I’d have gotten it by now. Discipline must be grown…

More than that, really, discipline must be cultivated.

In horticulture, cultivation is more than planting seeds, more than watering or feeding plants… It is the entire process of growth and harvest… Learning the process is the only road to success as an artist or anything else, really.  If we are going to produce a harvest (to extend the metaphor) that is 50 or 100 times greater than the seeds we sow, we have to persevere through the entire process…

Every time.

In the weeks ahead, I’ll be sharing the process with you… As I work through a few projects that require a high level of discipline (including the continuation if this series), I’m going to spill out my struggle to you guys…

Could be messy…

NEXT in this series: The Fallow Ground…

Creativity Killers, Part 3: Darkness…

April 15, 2010 in being christian with 0 Comments

The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy…  -Jesus (John 10:10)

...but the Lord will rise on you...

This is going to sound kinda kooky, but I believe that the Bible teaches that there is an Enemy to God and His people… That Enemy opposes us, especially when we devote ourselves to serving God with our gifts…

The Devil…

But I’m not talking about the “Halloween Devil” with his red cape and widow’s peak and pointy tail… I’m talking about a power of darkness, who deftly uses his skill at deception and aggravation to keep us discouraged or distracted when we are running the race that God has called us to run…

In our progressive, modern conception of the supernatural, we tend to discount this as idle superstition, but read the Bible and he’s there, he’s personal and he’s playing for keeps…

So, we have to play that way too…

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes….  -The Bible (Eph 6:10-11)

When we talk about the “armor of God” in church, we tend to get really stuck on the imagery… The shield and the breastplate and what – exactly – it means to have your loins girded…

And we miss the point.

Because the point of Paul’s military metaphor is what the armor represents… faith, righteousness, the word of God, salvation, peace… These disciplines are the essence of our fight against darkness…

So, I find that when I am creatively blocked because of unnatural or unreasonable discouragement, depression, irritation, whatever… I pray against it.

It’s a simple matter of asking God to bring His authority against the darkness… Authority that He gives us when we belong to Him…

I have applied this principle in many areas of my life… family, ministry, creativity, etc… with a great deal of success.  I highly recommend John Eldredge’s very practical book on this, Waking The Dead.

You see, Jesus lived so that we could walk in Light and not be mired in Darkness…

Arise, shine for your Light has come and the glory of the Lord rises on you.  For darkness is on the earth and thick darkness upon the people, but the Lord’s light is upon you… Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn…     -The Bible (Isa 60:1-3)
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