creatives – Sarah Guldalian

The Right Kind of Growth

We all say we want to grow, we want to develop, we want to expand our territory – our tent. But, do you know what is hard? Growth.

And, when we say we want to grow, we all know what we mean: Grow in muscle, not in fat. Grow in revenue, not expenses. Grow in impact, not disgrace. And muscle, revenue, and impact all take work; they each cost something. And we don’t determine the kind of work it takes.

If it was up to us, we would grow muscle by eating comfort food. We would grow revenue by doing less work and living comfortable, lavish lifestyles. We would grow impact by doing a few viral posts instead of building an example through hard work and integrity over years. But, we don’t determine the seeds that must be planted for growth to germinate.

At times – in fact, many times – instead of doing that hard work, we buy products that make us build muscle quick. We think of get-rich-quick tactics. We buy outfits and cars that make us look successful. But when we do this, we miss out on the most important and necessary work of building our character through the growing. The hard is what builds tenacity, endurance, patience, and humility within us. We need these things to steward growth well.

If we build revenue, build muscle, and build impact without developing the character to shepherd these things well, the worst thing that can happen is not that we will lose it but that we will instead hurt others and hurt ourselves more than we gain. And instead of growing, we may even diminish and corrode. Because, impact is best managed by the person with integrity, built over time through hard work and the humility learned through – not only success – but through failures.

Without this humility, impact can be manipulative. And finances are best shepherded by those who have taken the time to learn prudence and discernment through time, education and counsel, or it can be squandered in but a moment. And muscle, when created the wrong way, cannot only fade but actually damage your body in the long term.

I do not share this to discourage or tear anyone down but instead to build up and encourage those who are doing the hard work – who have been at it for years – who feel tired and discouraged by subtle gains followed by trials.

Don’t give up. Your hard work will pay off — not only through the goals you are striving to achieve, but mainly through the strength of character, knowledge, patience and humility you are learning through the process.

And once you attain those goals — if that goal is God’s good for your life — you will be a trustworthy steward (a worker approved) who can bring help and blessing to those you impact, sowing good with ripple effect throughout your sphere of influence, not just within yourself for personal gain. This is the law of sowing and reaping. You reap what you sow. What you plant, water, and germinate does produce.

So, do not give up! Keep doing it the right and righteous way. It may not turn exactly as you envisioned it, but as you do the hard work – seeking God through the entire process (that is key) – you will end up with beautiful fruit that blesses others and yourself.

And, what I have come to learn is that is the truest, most honest form of growth — that which honors God and blesses others more than it benefits you. That kind of growth exceeds your life span and blesses the Kingdom of God, inspiring and equipping others to do the hard work of growth that too blesses their sphere of influence.

And yet, I know, as humans it is hard to push ahead, to do the hard work, and to endure, but it is worthy work — the worthy work of a life well-lived. So do what it takes to endure: Spend time alone with God. Gain wise counsel in your life that you access consistently. Ask for help. Surround yourself with friends who have integrity. And be honest — with God, with them, and with yourself.

And remember to have some fun and laugh. Don’t wait for that. And tell the people you love that you love them. These steps make it easier for us to endure, because we need support, community and spiritual covering to do so.

Most importantly, here are some verses to lean on for endurance:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance [endurance] the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

“And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:2b-5).

“Blessed is the one who perseveres [endurance] under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).

For the Creatives

Someone told you that you were naive.
Somebody said you are too idealistic.
Someone told you that you’re too subjective.
Somebody said to use your head instead of your heart.
Someone told you that you are too right-brained.
Somebody told you to use logic.
Someone said you are too empathetic.
Somebody told you to quit being so nice.
Someone said you care too much.
Somebody told you that you are too passionate.

And so, you tried to figure it out — how to be “smarter,” less intuitive, more objective, realistic, more logical, to fit into the structure… And you took it too far.

You quit dreaming, quit listening with tenderness, quit connecting, hid your heart, led with facts, numbers and proof. In doing so, you lost your color, denied your gift of intuition, disregarded your creativity. You quit dreaming… and you lost yourself. Now you are just surviving.

I am here to encourage you to stop settling for survival.

Sometimes, in order to adult, we tell ourselves what we “should” think instead of admitting (even to ourselves) how we really feel. In order to survive, we morph our thoughts, our gifts, and our personalities to fit into a paradigm of who we (or others) think we should be. We begin to block our feelings to play the part — to stay in character. But when we quit allowing ourselves to feel, we lock up and hold on, instead of surrendering. We hide instead of healing. And in doing so, we begin to simply survive.

But survival is basic. Surviving is the lowest level of living. There is more than that — even so much more if we surrender, have faith, heal, and dare to dream.

You have to quit settling for survival. You have to quit allowing your thoughts and actions to be guided by societal paradigms. Until you surrender what you “should” be and truly adopt who God uniquely created you to be, you will barely hang on. But when you surrender what others think and begin to flow in the gifts God has given you, you will experience a new level of personal freedom, healthier relationships in your life, and even greater effectiveness on mission.

Start dreaming again. You aren’t naive. You aren’t stupid. You aren’t idealistic. You are creative, caring, and loving like your heavenly Father whose image you were created in. And the world needs more of Him through you. The world needs less yelling and more singing, less black and white and more color. You deserve that too.

Your talents are a gift – to you first – from God, and they are to be enjoyed. Enjoy them, and share them with the world. Go where you are greeted, and help inspire those who are uninspired but open to learn.

We need what you bring to the world. Bring it, please.

Out-of-Body Experience

For the Pioneers

I have always been pioneering – thinking, seeing, dreaming into the future. Sometimes I can see myself, see my family, in that place… a place of effectiveness on a grand scale, a spiritual standing ground, a place of impact or influence for the kingdom of God and in the marketplace. I can see it.

And in those moments, those gifts of a moment, where the Lord has gifted me with a vision, I sometimes get too excited, to rambunctious, where impatience sets in. I begin to see a gap – from where I am now to where I will be then.

And in that moment, in that gap, when you are at F on the map and God shows you L, it is far to easy to quickly scramble to create a plan to get there… when you see the result but have not yet been given the road map on getting from F to G and then from G to H.

The pioneering person can see the future so clearly at moments that it is as if you are having an out-of-body experience, and you must run to catch up with yourself. It can feel as though you have lost yourself to the future, and you must go on a quest to meet there.

But I have learned (and will probably learn some more) to not set off running to that place, even as beautiful as the vision may be, without first getting the road map from God. For, far too often, I have set off running only to find myself living somewhere in between where I was never intended to reside. God had L for me but I’m living in the land of J, even seemingly trapped, because I lacked the patience and fed the impulsivity to run ahead without getting God’s road map for the journey. And J was only ever meant to be a hotel stay, no place to reside.

And let’s think about those places, those in-between places… Think about the timing of a thing. When you land in a place really matters. For, at a certain time you will encounter different people and different circumstances then you might 20 minutes later… and all of these things matter. God uses people, He uses relationships, He uses circumstances to form us, to shape us, to develop us, to prepare us, even transform us, into the person we saw in the vision.

And the kind of relationships that we want – ones that are healthy, where iron sharpens iron – are found at a certain time in a certain place. Think about it: Meeting someone at 2 pm daylight is different than meeting someone at 2 am in the middle of the night. The people at those times will be different types of people. And what I truly want is to meet my 2 pm relationships, the circumstances with sunlight… I want to only step foot and tread ground where God tells me to and when. And so, I must trust Him for the entire journey.

The difference between who I am now and the person I see in the vision is transformation. And there are no short cuts for transformation. The Holy Spirit is the author and we must yield.

And so, when gifted with a vision, with the beauty of this thing, I must thank God for the vision. And I must temper my impatience to sit where I am until He tells me to go. And then, I must be willing to go at the pace He sets, even if its inching like a turtle rather than stampeding like a rhino.

For visions – grand, holy visions – are not ours. They are Gods. And for those visions to come to pass, we must do things God’s way. And so we must look to Him as the compass. We must stop in our tracks when we are lost and wait for our Father. We must temper the wild abandon that sets us off running, and tell our nervous systems to submit to the will of God and the direction of the Holy Spirit.

For then we will reserve our energy and our focus and our gaze for the things God is focused on and gazing at. And we will see His purposes come to pass in our life, in our lifetime.

Pioneer, Fight the urge to run. You are here… you are now… for a reason. He will show you where to go and when. And when He says, “Go,” do it His way.