Dwell

Our church is going through the book of Philippians right now. Last weekend, the sermon was about Phil. 4:8-9. "Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

Just yesterday, I took to heart and changed my typical thought patterns from what these verses said. Here's the back story. I was getting frustrated with myself again, for not spending time being creative. (I have only created one finished non-commissioned work of art since graduating college in 2003.) Just a couple of days ago, I had opened an old journal (from 6 years ago) and one of the first pages had this verse and a paragraph stating what I want to be and do as an artist. Then it dawned on me. Art can be a very consuming thing, and in my life it is not number one. So, when I DWELL on it.... when it becomes the thing that my brain goes to when it's in neutral, it has become consuming. And as I said, I become frustrated and irritable because I'm giving it the place in my life that is not meant to be.

All this being said, I think I can begin to exercise my creativity through journaling, art work, writing and not be frustrated because I am going to keep it in its proper place. BTW, thanks to Linda Dillow who included the priority planner in her book Creative Counterpart. After reading this book several times, I'm finally going to put this part into practice and plan my priorities accordingly.

So, I am going to dwell.... with God..... and everything else should fall into place a little better.