this season isn't a setback: a list of things for creative people to celebrate right now.

Many of us are currently quarantined, and while that might be frustrating and draining in a different kind of way, it might be just what we need.

There's a lot of deep truths to discover in this season, just as there always is. Some times are easier than others to see that, but that's an unshakable, objective truth: there's more for you right here. Fatigue, confusion, and fear can make it hard to hear and hard to see, so perhaps take a moment.

Stand up. Stretch. 

Breathe.

Drink water. With lemon. Or tea.

Breathe.  

Come Holy Spirit, and remind me that you're the center of my gravity. My lifestyle is not what brings me worth; my daily accomplishments don't contribute to my value. I am a child of God.

Okay, let's celebrate. This isn't just for right now, because you're quarantined. This is forever. Maybe right now is the time to step into soul rhythms that will carry you through the rest of your life. Maybe right now is the time to cultivate attentiveness to the Father's voice over all the rest.

Our ability to celebrate, to find joy, to rejoice in these things on the foundation of a Father who is in control is our greatest weapon against fatigue, confusion, fear, and every work of the enemy.

We've all been gifted this season to learn that being is greater than doing. That the production of results comes second to the creativity that is cultivated.

SO, for all my people out there who are struggling to claim their creativity and realize their worth in this season of the process...this is for you. And if you don't consider yourself creative, here's a reminder: We're created in the Image and Likeness of the Creator; and so, we create. It's in your nature to be creative.

Things to Celebrate, as Creatives (hey, that's you!).

Celebrate your inspiration. 

Celebrate your ideas! Whether or not they play out the way you see them playing out, and before you see them play out at all, celebrate them. You have a creative mind, that sees innovative things that no one else does! Before you're even able to find time to allow your inspiration to propel you into active doing, celebrate the zest that inspiration and creativity bring to your life.

Maybe it's an idea you were inspired with to enable your work team to communicate more effectively. Maybe it's inspiration you had while schooling your children today. Maybe it's inspiration to try something new for breakfast. Maybe it's inspiration to try a new art form. Inspiration means that we're not stuck; it means that we're growing, that we're moving, that we're alive. 

Tips for cultivating inspiration: positivity and thanksgiving for things around you! Breathing. Prayer. Actually praying-- the kind where you bring your whole heart and engage your whole mind, for a sold amount of time. Actually carving out space to allow inspiration to find its end, in your active creativity. Create the thing you're inspired to create. Inspiration will go away if you don't actually work on those good ideas. So put pen to paper or vocalize your ideas or whatever!

Celebrate the audience of the One.

Cue Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself." Self-care and self-love is ultimately found in God; He loves when we see ourselves the way that He sees us!

I've come to figure out that self-care is when we find our identity in the Father and learn how to live it out. You're important. Your ideas are important, the way that you filter life is important. You're created intentionally, and your creativity is a gift to you, another fingerprint of your Father on your soul.

The best way we can care for ourselves is to know our worth. The best way we can love ourselves is by being ourselves. We learn how to do that through our Father, who holds our being in His hands.

So, you're allowed to celebrate the reality that you're performing for just him and you, and do something that might not produce the results that make society call it "good" and still be actually good. Whether it matches up with the standards presented or gets twelve likes on Instagram-- it doesn't matter. You can make it, you can celebrate it, simply because of the audience of the One.

So, you're allowed to do things for you. You're allowed to write something or paint something or make something that you don't show anyone, that never goes anywhere, and that you're proud of. None of it is irrelevant, and to disregard it would be completely irreverent, because what is born from solitary creativity is sacred. It's your heart that's birthing; it's your heart that has stepped outside of the rush of time to do something "impractical" and "unproductive".

It's worth it to create for yourself. It's worth it to take pride in yourself. It's worth it to do any art form, when there will be a thousand creatives that "technically" do it better. It's for you, it is you, and it's awesome. This is a way we can practice self-love, and actually worship-- knowing our worth, we create what's on our heart, to bring Him glory.

That isn't to say, don't set goals and stretch yourself. That is to say, set goals and stretch yourself in reference to the reality that you're already enough.

Celebrate where you're at in the process.

Oh, the process.

Choose to believe right now that this season is not a setback; that it's a wild card that's been given to you for your advantage. This season is for you, and not against you, because you believe that God was serious when He promised to use all things for your good. You do believe that, right? Because belief isn't a feeling. It's a choice.

So, choose, right now.

And celebrate where you're at. With your relationships. With your work. With your school. With your dreams and desires. This moment is good, and you're good, and it's all good. Nothing is wasted, even when it feels like everything is shut down and cancelled.

Growth isn't cancelled. Dreaming isn't cancelled. Creativity isn't cancelled.

Celebrate all that it's taken.

Right in line with where you're at in the process, is celebrating where you've been in the process.

Now's a great time for some soul searching. Not because you're home and quarantining (I honestly feel busier now than when I was out and about), but because it's now. Soul search: where are you holding onto regret? Where is anger and bitterness manifesting itself in fear, which is limiting you from living fully?

We're created to create in reference to goodness, not woundedness.

When we're creating because we've experienced hurt, there's still something holding us captive. When we have to create in reference to hurt, we're still being enslaved to whatever or whomever has hurt us.  We can create because we're healed. Because we're good. Because we're made in the Image and Likeness of Love.

We don't have to be propelled to prove something because we weren't seen or heard; we can be propelled by the truth that we are seen and heard, and we've always been, by the King of the Universe.

Maybe you relate to this: when you've worked through something, and you're no longer immediately affected by it, you shove it under your mental bed, and you hate it. You hate that you experienced that situation, you hate that those words were spoken or those actions were done. You hate that you were stuck, that you were hurt, that you were abandoned, that you were betrayed.

You hate that you had to grow, and it had to hurt. You hate that that is part of your story.

Relate? I do.

We don't have to hate it. I'm finding that a necessary part of the healing process isn't simply forgiveness, it's thanksgiving for whatever happened, for all of it. It's thanksgiving for the love we've encountered, for the Savior that we've encountered and are encountering.

We don't have to forget. We don't have to hate. We also don't have to completely focus on it, but we don't have to give so much weight to it.

So, create from a place of celebration. Celebrate the healing, celebrate the redemption. Celebrate the fact that the enemy doesn't claim you, but that the Redeemer knows your name. And He restores all that's been lost.

Celebrate the necessary mundane. 

Well, there's a lot of this today, isn't there? And isn't there, every day?

The making beds. Brushing your teeth. The answering emails. Working out. Online class. Online meetings.

All of these things could be seen as things that are in the way of whatever it is you *actually want* to be doing...or, they could be seen as areas where you can perfect your creativity. You might not be lifting and placing the bricks to build the building that you've envisioned. However, you're exercising the muscles that are necessary for the strength to build the dreams that the Father has placed on your heart.

You get to be creative, in your thoughts, in your communication. You can bring that to every moment. You can make it exciting on your own, whether that's writing beautifully on your to-do list on adding something different to your cup of coffee.

Dread is the enemy of creativity, and it is fought and defeated with the weapon of thanksgiving and attentiveness. Attentiveness to what? To the Father's heart, which we find in the simple beauty unfolding around us.

So, now can be a time for celebration. There's not a pause on life; there's an invitation into the depth of life. Don't waste it.

I recently saw something that said if you don't come out of this with your book written or project started, it's a waste. I don't think that's true. This time is for you to know that you're loved, for you to know that you have worth and are cherished by the Father. If you miss that, then it's wasted.

This season isn't a setback. Even here, we can celebrate the Father's goodness in us-- how cool is that?!