Rut or Pit--Watch your step!

For some reason, I am in a rut of sorts. I can't seem to move forward in some projects that interest me. I'm in a pit. I don't need to be there. I'm not held there by force. I'm just dwelling there for awhile. Down here I have lots of self-pity, low motivation, thoughts of dejection and rejection which I lovingly care for but not an ounce of creativity. We just can't be creative unless we're doing something, and pit dwelling doesn't leave much room to expand our minds.

I started digging about a year ago when I got thrust into care giving for my father with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. By the time he was settled (and for the moment stable), I'd dug so deep I was barely looking out over the top. At first, I didn't think I was in a pit, rather, I thought I needed time to recover all the emotional strain I'd gone through, and that's fine. But days turned into weeks, turned into months and I still hadn't gone back to my own creative projects. There they sat (still) gathering dust.

So what do we do when we find ourselves in a pit? Your pit can look different than mine. Pits are dug for a varity of emotional reasons. Here's the good news.

God will give us the power to become creative, employed, or just moving again, and to work on whatever is keeping us buried. I know this because I'd fallen head first into a pit when my mother passed away. Then one day, I happened to hear a talk by Joyce Meyer and she said, Do it Afraid!: Obeying God in the Face of Fear

That was such a powerful statement. She also said, "Don't let your feelings vote." I really like that, because if I wait for feeling creative or strong or whatever I need to feel to get moving, I might not.

I've come across some other resources I want to share with you.

Beth Moore, wrote a book, titled, Get Out of That Pit. I loved it so much that I passed it around to my girlfriends. I might have to borrow it back!

God has already appropriated our gifts, we have everything we need to use those gifts and talents. But what stops us from accepting them? I think we think we have to work for them, and the idea of working for God's gifts can actually paralyze us. Us creative types can find a hundred reasons not to create if we're pit dwelling. We'll take our creative energy and use it everywhere but in what's close to our hearts.

If we're in a pit, we tend to compare ourselves, too, but usually in the comparsion the other guy comes out on top.

Now, if you're creative (and you are!) and you're stuck, I must recommend a little book called, How to Avoid Making Art by Julia Cameron, who also wrote the book, The Artist's Way. (Get that one, too!)

Some of her reasons not to create:

• Tell yourself you're too old to make art.
  
• Tell yourself you're too old to have the things you love.
  
• Watch a movie rather than the one in your head.
  
• Volunteer for yet another committee rather than take that sculpture class.
  

Well, you get the idea. It's a amazing book with cartoon drawings that really hits home. We'll go scrub the toilet rather than sit down and write, or knit, or take that cooking class.

God is the ultimate creator and we're made in his image and he's given us our talents to use.