One day, it hit me. As I checked my inbox on a particular email hosting website, I observed 8 out of the 10 first, non-sponsored, news stories in my newsfeed were either about death or missing people.
I realized this vile news exposure was the norm.
War, famine, murder, lies, and all kinds of other explicit content flood every screen we use. And that’s just the external onslaught of information. What about the baggage we carry with us all day? Sin, temptations, damaged relationships with our parents or our children, struggling to pay rent, struggle to find purpose.
How is it exactly that an artist is supposed to cultivate thankfulness again?
It is so easy to imagine all the bad about our life and this world.
For all life’s toil, let us take hold of a few things:
“7 Go, eat your bread with pleasure, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works. 8 Let your clothes be white all the time, and never let oil be lacking on your head. 9 Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting[c] life, which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 9:7-9).
From this, I’d like to point out that artists can rest assured in certain assurances in life.
Regarding our lives, gifts, and talents, God gave us the following:
Divine placement of the culture, community, and time period we grow up in (Deuteronomy 32:8; Acts 17:26-27).
If you are married, rest in that God gave you your spouse (Proverbs 19:14)
If you have kids, that too (Psalm 129:3-5)
Your talents, skills, and gifts (Deut 8:17-18; Mt 24-25; Eph 2:10)
Even if the day is toilsome, artists can thank God for their lives and creative inclinations.
