That was the slogan for years for MARTA, the Transit Authority in Atlanta.
It’s a good slogan for bus and train riders, and it’s a good slogan for anyone on their journey through life … especially creatives. In order to really enjoy this trip through life, it is imperative that we pay very close attention to what’s going on inside of us.
All that intensity inside is so necessary for us to do terrific work, but there’s potential darkness and drama in there if we don’t stay alert. When we do stay alert, and when we learn to use and enjoy that intensity wisely, our hearts, lives and work will open up wide to possibilities we never imagined.
It’s so important, because all that inside stuff flows through our work. If our inside stuff is dark and nasty, it will show in our work. If our inside stuff is full of life and hope, that will show in our work, too.
If you saw the August 2022 blogs, you know … we creatives are in the business of bringing all that inside stuff to the outside. It’s our job to help express the inexpressible … the wonder and the romance of life all around us. Especially for people like us, who create literature for children, how important and awesome is that?!
If you’re a Christian creative producing work for children, you have the very best potential of filling your work with hope and life and making an impact. I’ve always referred to myself as a hopeless romantic, but when Jesus Christ is your King, there’s nothing hopeless about that … quite the opposite, in fact!
We live in an impossible world, where the good things are called wicked and wicked things are embraced as good. We seem to be in a season now where things feel especially dark, and it’s difficult to not let despair creep into our hearts. It’s hard enough for adults … just imagine being a youngster growing up in this world where daily we’re bombarded with all the wrong messages through our 24/7 media.
But every day when the sun comes up, that’s our sign that God hasn’t given up on us yet, and so we take heart and get back to our important work of letting others know there is yet hope. Don’t give up or give in!
If Paul and Silas could be found singing praise hymns while chained up in a Roman prison after being beaten half to death, we can surely make it through our own dark and crazy world without giving up.
I like to have fun with this thing I do. It’s fun to be able to write silly articles about all of us crazy creatives and how hard we are to live with. Never lose the capacity to laugh with and about yourself.
But the wonderful gifts and intensity God put inside us are there for us to do the serious work He has designed us for … to encourage and teach and uplift others, and to show them the hope they’ll find only in Him.
This world is careening down a path that is headed to death and destruction, but inside us is the Answer that leads to life … do your job, creatives, and bring all those good inside things to the outside so some other weary soul can find hope and life, too!
And if you can do that while also being a little less moody and a little easier to live with, well, that’s just a bonus!
Don’t give up … He’s got this, and He’s got you ...
Hang on, relax, and enjoy the ride!
Thanks 😊