After a week of travelling, visiting family and contemplating thankfulness, I didn't get to writing some thing for this Monday. So, let's call it a holiday and I'll be back next week. Hope to see you then!
-Michael
Monday, November 26, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Power of Gratefulness
Thanksgiving
Being that it is the week of Thanksgiving here in the States, the topic have giving thanks and gratefulness has been on my mind. I have so many things to be thankful for, I don't know where to even start. I live in a country that has unbelievable freedom, valiantly fought for over many generations by our heroic servicemen. I have a great family that just so happens to all be getting together this week--something I excitedly look forward to every year. I have an amazing wife who supports me and who loves me just as I am AND who is just as, and sometimes even more, excited about this Living (un)Explored Project as I have been. Most of all, I'm thankful for my relationship with God and the gifts of life, love and joy He so graciously gives and I so undeservedly get to receive.
In Creative Journeys
Most of us can relate to being thankful for these kinds of parts of our lives, give or take: our families, friends, jobs, communities, freedoms, etc. But have you thought about the part of your life that specifically involves your creative endeavors? Who and what do we have to be grateful for in that area?
I hadn't thought much about this topic until now, but I think it's been a fruitful in my own life to think about it. So, here are some things I am specifically grateful for in the creative aspects of my life:
1) Creator God-- I believe we've all been made in the image of God who created everything and so, we all have a unique creative destiny. What a legacy and inheritance we have as creators! For me, everything flows from here.
2) Creative Communities-- who do you have in your life that you can share your work with, get constructive feedback and encouragement from? Andy Crouch stresses the importance of community in our journey to become successful creators and artists in his brilliant book Culture Making. One of my hopes for this blog is that we can together become a healthy creative community.
3) Life Situations-- it sounds counter-intuitive to be equally thankful for life situations that are at times difficult and at other times so wonderful. But it's in the range of emotions and the ups and downs of day-to-day life that we find sparks for the creative expressions we have. These are also the very ways that we relate to each other and connect through. It's often in suffering and the shared experience of our broken world that we find unity and it's in those places that walls break down between people and our perceived differences really become as insignificant as they should be.
4) Outlets for our Creativity-- I know not all of us share this luxury, but I'm thankful for the many places in which I have to share my art with others.
-In my city, we have several places that host open-mic nights for sharing music. Katie and I plan on starting to participate in those evenings once we make a little more progress in the project.
-Also, free and useful sites like this one (http://www.blogger.com) that provide a great way to post these blog entries have been so helpful. A site like this allows me to focus on the writing and the content and not to have to worry about getting the technical parts working correctly.
-My local church has been a great source of opportunities to share gifts of music and other talents I've been given. Would your local faith community be a great place to showcase your work?
-Other random places for sharing talents have also come into view recently. For instance, last weekend, I spent some time in New England and one really cool part of the trip was seeing street performers and artists entertain passerbys in Boston Common and Central Park and Times Square. I was struck by the freedom we have here in the States to express ourselves publicly. I know that many in world, if not most, do not have that same opportunity, so I desire to not take it for granted in my own corner of the planet.
The Innate Power of Gratefulness
When we're thankful for the gifts we've been given, there's something deeper going on then just celebrating a holiday like Thanksgiving as an yearly ritual.
I haven't fully put my finger on it yet, but I think part of the power is that there is a humility that happens when I truly realize that I don't deserve much, if not any, of what I have. And there's a call to service and love that naturally flows from that place of gratefulness and humility. And finally, remembering the things that I have and cultivating thankfulness helps lead me to places of contentment in my life and into worship of the God that loves me and graciously provides these gifts.
I think knowing that my life is primarily not about me, and earnestly desiring to live like that is true (however badly I end up doing it), is a helpful grounding reality that I'm rather thankful for...even as I pursue grandiose dreams of writing music and changing lives.
Happy Thanksgiving to all in the States and blessings to those abroad. I invite everyone to join me this week in focusing in on the many things for which we have to be thankful.
-Michael
What are you thankful for when it comes to your creative lives? Do you agree with the thought about gratefulness being powerful? Anything to add to it?
Join the discussion. Post a comment below. I would love to hear what you think.
Being that it is the week of Thanksgiving here in the States, the topic have giving thanks and gratefulness has been on my mind. I have so many things to be thankful for, I don't know where to even start. I live in a country that has unbelievable freedom, valiantly fought for over many generations by our heroic servicemen. I have a great family that just so happens to all be getting together this week--something I excitedly look forward to every year. I have an amazing wife who supports me and who loves me just as I am AND who is just as, and sometimes even more, excited about this Living (un)Explored Project as I have been. Most of all, I'm thankful for my relationship with God and the gifts of life, love and joy He so graciously gives and I so undeservedly get to receive.
In Creative Journeys
Most of us can relate to being thankful for these kinds of parts of our lives, give or take: our families, friends, jobs, communities, freedoms, etc. But have you thought about the part of your life that specifically involves your creative endeavors? Who and what do we have to be grateful for in that area?
I hadn't thought much about this topic until now, but I think it's been a fruitful in my own life to think about it. So, here are some things I am specifically grateful for in the creative aspects of my life:
1) Creator God-- I believe we've all been made in the image of God who created everything and so, we all have a unique creative destiny. What a legacy and inheritance we have as creators! For me, everything flows from here.
2) Creative Communities-- who do you have in your life that you can share your work with, get constructive feedback and encouragement from? Andy Crouch stresses the importance of community in our journey to become successful creators and artists in his brilliant book Culture Making. One of my hopes for this blog is that we can together become a healthy creative community.
3) Life Situations-- it sounds counter-intuitive to be equally thankful for life situations that are at times difficult and at other times so wonderful. But it's in the range of emotions and the ups and downs of day-to-day life that we find sparks for the creative expressions we have. These are also the very ways that we relate to each other and connect through. It's often in suffering and the shared experience of our broken world that we find unity and it's in those places that walls break down between people and our perceived differences really become as insignificant as they should be.
4) Outlets for our Creativity-- I know not all of us share this luxury, but I'm thankful for the many places in which I have to share my art with others.
-In my city, we have several places that host open-mic nights for sharing music. Katie and I plan on starting to participate in those evenings once we make a little more progress in the project.
-Also, free and useful sites like this one (http://www.blogger.com) that provide a great way to post these blog entries have been so helpful. A site like this allows me to focus on the writing and the content and not to have to worry about getting the technical parts working correctly.
-My local church has been a great source of opportunities to share gifts of music and other talents I've been given. Would your local faith community be a great place to showcase your work?
-Other random places for sharing talents have also come into view recently. For instance, last weekend, I spent some time in New England and one really cool part of the trip was seeing street performers and artists entertain passerbys in Boston Common and Central Park and Times Square. I was struck by the freedom we have here in the States to express ourselves publicly. I know that many in world, if not most, do not have that same opportunity, so I desire to not take it for granted in my own corner of the planet.
The Innate Power of Gratefulness
When we're thankful for the gifts we've been given, there's something deeper going on then just celebrating a holiday like Thanksgiving as an yearly ritual.
I haven't fully put my finger on it yet, but I think part of the power is that there is a humility that happens when I truly realize that I don't deserve much, if not any, of what I have. And there's a call to service and love that naturally flows from that place of gratefulness and humility. And finally, remembering the things that I have and cultivating thankfulness helps lead me to places of contentment in my life and into worship of the God that loves me and graciously provides these gifts.
I think knowing that my life is primarily not about me, and earnestly desiring to live like that is true (however badly I end up doing it), is a helpful grounding reality that I'm rather thankful for...even as I pursue grandiose dreams of writing music and changing lives.
Happy Thanksgiving to all in the States and blessings to those abroad. I invite everyone to join me this week in focusing in on the many things for which we have to be thankful.
-Michael
What are you thankful for when it comes to your creative lives? Do you agree with the thought about gratefulness being powerful? Anything to add to it?
Join the discussion. Post a comment below. I would love to hear what you think.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Holidays and Freedoms
Right now I'm waking up in Boston, visiting east coast cities with Katie and a friend from London England.
If you ask an American what we're doing, they would say a vacation. However, if you were to ask the same of someone from most of the rest of the world, including my friend from London, they would say what we're doing is a holiday.
I like that answer much better. Holiday appears to me to be a variation of the words "holy" and "day". "Holy" meaning set apart, altogether different, sacred. Vacation is a variation of vacate, get away from, etc.
The implications of the word vacation doesn't include any responsibilities or opportunities to make something of the days, but merely freedom from normal life.
Holiday, however, implies a freedom from the daily grind of work and weekly schedules, but also a freedom to make the days holy and set apart.
I think this applies to our daily lives as well. As we grow in freedom and in who we've been created to be. As we become free, by the grace of God, from expectations of others and the trappings of the broken parts of the world around its, we then have a freedom to do the things we have in our hearts to do. Then we're not serving and loving others from a place of guilt or performance. We realize that we don't have to, but rather we get to serve others and be served by them. That is an intense and humbling gift to be intentionally used by God in this way, not because we deserve it, but because God loves us and he loves the people he places in our path.
In the midst of some realizations happening in my own holiday, I would encourage you to set apart a moment this week to remember the gifts you have been given, including those opportunities to create and to serve.
-Michael
How do you spend for vacation time? How does that mindset also affect your day-to-day life?
Monday, November 5, 2012
Once the Shine Wears Off
This soon?
I didn't think it would happen this soon. I had this idea to blog about my experience in exploring songs I've written in the past, get them to the next level and have some demo recordings by the end. I was excited and I had a bunch of ideas to write about along the way.
But this past week, it happened, the project has started to feel like work. The shine has already worn off of the original idea a little. The initial excitement has died down a bit. In the past, when projects and ideas would hit a point like this where I would feel uncomfortable and bothered, I would proceed to passively allow them to slowly fade. Typically, I would then wait until the next idea would come along that would spark my interest and the cycle would start over again.
Is my attention span really that small? Yes, yes it is.
I can't be the only one
I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way. I think we all have full lives of jobs to work, family engagements to attend, kids to take care of and the like. After all of that, who really has time and energy to stick with a dream? Isn't it enough to just get by on those things that have to get done and then enjoy a little veg-time in front of the tv in the remaining spare moments?
That's certainly a valid choice you can make and has been mine in the past. However, I would argue that the kinds of dreams that I'm talking about, the album you always wanted to record, the poetry collection you always wanted to pull together and publish, the areas of service you always wanted to be more faithful to, are often the things that really make life the adventure that it is. These goals of stepping outside of our comfort zones and beyond the day-to-day will actually produce more life and more excitement than the "rest" we think we get by mindlessly watching another sitcom.
Now, don't get me wrong. Occasionally, I'm zonked from a long day of work and at that point there's nothing better than to chill on the couch in front of a good movie with my wife. But, are we using this down-time as an excuse to be lazy or as an occasional, intentional means of relaxation?
This time it's different
But despite my realization this week, I feel different this time around in making progress with The Living (un)Explored Project. Why? As I reflected on that question this week, I came up with several things that I have done differently than in past projects that I think has made a difference. These weren't really conscious things that I read in a step-by-step manual. They just kind of happened, though I think these decisions have been influenced by some of the great books I've been reading lately. I hope that maybe they will encourage you or give you ideas in your own creative journey to keep going once the initial shine wears off on your dream.
So here's a list in no particular order.
Bottom Line
We owe it to ourselves to work hard to excel in the gifts and talents we've been given.
I've been given many great things. And I know now more than ever that I didn't do anything to deserve them. I see these gifts to be my unique talents, inspiration and support from friends, great examples of hard work from my parents, and most importantly, my relationship with God. Anything I do from now on won't ever really warrant me deserving of these gifts, but at the same time, I have a deep desire to work, persevere and create FROM the place of having been given these great gifts.
And so I will continue writing and creating and doing and singing and playing and believing and praying that others will be touched with a gift of hope and encouragement along the way.
-Michael
What works for you to keep moving on a project even when the initial excitement dies down? What are some support structures you could put in place right now to help you through those times on your current project?
I didn't think it would happen this soon. I had this idea to blog about my experience in exploring songs I've written in the past, get them to the next level and have some demo recordings by the end. I was excited and I had a bunch of ideas to write about along the way.
But this past week, it happened, the project has started to feel like work. The shine has already worn off of the original idea a little. The initial excitement has died down a bit. In the past, when projects and ideas would hit a point like this where I would feel uncomfortable and bothered, I would proceed to passively allow them to slowly fade. Typically, I would then wait until the next idea would come along that would spark my interest and the cycle would start over again.
Is my attention span really that small? Yes, yes it is.
I can't be the only one
I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way. I think we all have full lives of jobs to work, family engagements to attend, kids to take care of and the like. After all of that, who really has time and energy to stick with a dream? Isn't it enough to just get by on those things that have to get done and then enjoy a little veg-time in front of the tv in the remaining spare moments?
That's certainly a valid choice you can make and has been mine in the past. However, I would argue that the kinds of dreams that I'm talking about, the album you always wanted to record, the poetry collection you always wanted to pull together and publish, the areas of service you always wanted to be more faithful to, are often the things that really make life the adventure that it is. These goals of stepping outside of our comfort zones and beyond the day-to-day will actually produce more life and more excitement than the "rest" we think we get by mindlessly watching another sitcom.
Now, don't get me wrong. Occasionally, I'm zonked from a long day of work and at that point there's nothing better than to chill on the couch in front of a good movie with my wife. But, are we using this down-time as an excuse to be lazy or as an occasional, intentional means of relaxation?
This time it's different
But despite my realization this week, I feel different this time around in making progress with The Living (un)Explored Project. Why? As I reflected on that question this week, I came up with several things that I have done differently than in past projects that I think has made a difference. These weren't really conscious things that I read in a step-by-step manual. They just kind of happened, though I think these decisions have been influenced by some of the great books I've been reading lately. I hope that maybe they will encourage you or give you ideas in your own creative journey to keep going once the initial shine wears off on your dream.
So here's a list in no particular order.
- I named the project. There seems to be a certain legitimacy to giving a project a name. See my first post for an exploration of that idea.
- I promised to post something every Monday. Yep, one reason I wrote in the header of this blog that I will post something every week was to help make myself actually do it. While it's no one's favorite thing to do, we all know that it really works to have accountability to our promises.
- I intentionally partnered with my wife, Katie. Katie and I are working to together on the project so that we could encourage one another and so that we could spend quality time together working on it. More accountability!
- We agreed on ambitious goals.
Katie and I made a particularly challenging goal for the overall first phase of the project. In addition, we laid out milestones, or smaller goals along the way, that will ultimately make way to the overall goal. More details about that in a future post, but suffice to say, it lights a fire under you when you know you have to work something consistently in order to achieve the timing of your goal. - I've tried to make the project and this blog about others.When we come to place of realizing that our lives are not really about us, there is a freedom to then do the things we were meant to do all along. If my goal is only about my own selfish desires, then my own laziness will win out most of the time.
- I've made it about discipline as well.One focus of this project is to use it as a means to develop healthy, productive patterns (aka discipline) in our lives. So, succeeding in fulfilling our goals will not only produce the recordings that we're excited to make, and the body of writing that I'm geeked about with these blog entries, but it will also mean that we have made more progress in our desire for discipline in our lives.
- I feel commissioned to put time and effort into this project.In all of us, there are things in our lives we feel like we are supposed to do. It' so easy for the many "good" things I have to do to get in the way of the "great" things that are for me uniquely to do. The primary way I try to figure out which are the "great" things is through spending time with God in prayer. In addition, I believe we've been designed such that we can look at the unique talents and gifts that we have and can often see how those can be used to serve others and make a difference in those around us--i.e to find our commissioning.
Bottom Line
We owe it to ourselves to work hard to excel in the gifts and talents we've been given.
I've been given many great things. And I know now more than ever that I didn't do anything to deserve them. I see these gifts to be my unique talents, inspiration and support from friends, great examples of hard work from my parents, and most importantly, my relationship with God. Anything I do from now on won't ever really warrant me deserving of these gifts, but at the same time, I have a deep desire to work, persevere and create FROM the place of having been given these great gifts.
And so I will continue writing and creating and doing and singing and playing and believing and praying that others will be touched with a gift of hope and encouragement along the way.
-Michael
What works for you to keep moving on a project even when the initial excitement dies down? What are some support structures you could put in place right now to help you through those times on your current project?
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Hearing Classical Music in a Bar that used to be a Church
Katie and had the great opportunity to see the band Gungor play live a couple weeks back. It was an incredible show: the songs are epic, the dynamics of the music were huge, the hearts of band members are clearly focused on God and the unified celebration of everyone there was a sweet picture of eternity.
But, oddly enough, the moment that has been on my mind and I have most often shared with friends when they asked how the show went was this:
The lights went down on stage and then came back up. All that was left was Michael Gungor with a classical guitar doing some strange stretching exercises. We soon found out why. In the course of mere moments, the whole rock club was silenced and transfixed on one man on the stage quietly and brilliantly playing a solo classical piece. No light shows or pyrotechnics, no gimmicks, just a talented artist playing a song demonstrating excellence, beauty, and order.
In that moment, we were in a 120 year old church, turned into a bar, watching a man, who clearly loves God, play a 300 year old movement of classical music, originally written by the beloved composer, who famously stated that "The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.".
And as Michael finished the piece, there was a hushed silence in room. With a slight smirk but a genuine love, he simply states "Bach just doesn't get enough stage time these days."
To the glory of God and refreshment of the soul, indeed.
-Michael
But, oddly enough, the moment that has been on my mind and I have most often shared with friends when they asked how the show went was this:
The lights went down on stage and then came back up. All that was left was Michael Gungor with a classical guitar doing some strange stretching exercises. We soon found out why. In the course of mere moments, the whole rock club was silenced and transfixed on one man on the stage quietly and brilliantly playing a solo classical piece. No light shows or pyrotechnics, no gimmicks, just a talented artist playing a song demonstrating excellence, beauty, and order.
In that moment, we were in a 120 year old church, turned into a bar, watching a man, who clearly loves God, play a 300 year old movement of classical music, originally written by the beloved composer, who famously stated that "The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.".
And as Michael finished the piece, there was a hushed silence in room. With a slight smirk but a genuine love, he simply states "Bach just doesn't get enough stage time these days."
To the glory of God and refreshment of the soul, indeed.
-Michael
Can music and art truly point to the glory of God while not using specific words to say it? What are examples you've had with experiencing the presence of God through instrumental music?
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