As a songwriter and an artist, I have a confession to make: more than I'd like to admit, I've been a slave to the release. I'm a sucker for new content. I love being in that sweet spot where we're coming out with new music and things are moving along.
New music. Album release. The latest single. We all live in a creative world where much of the news around us focuses on events and the latest song or video from the artists we like. If you're a creative, you live in a cycle of releases of your work. Part of what gets us excited about the music we listen to is the newness of it all. There is something fresh and really fulfilling about listening to music for the first time.
For those of us who live in the world of creating music and art, this cycle of creating and releasing is often what drives our craft; you release a project or a song that you're proud of and you hopefully get to share it through a period of time with people who also are really supportive of it. You tour the released project and you share it with the world, and when all has gone exactly as you planned it and the purpose of that content is accomplished--now what?
I'm finding some clarity on the what next component of all of this in God's Word in Genesis:
As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night (Genesis 8:22)
The reality of our existence here on earth is one of seasons. You and I live in a world where things stay the same for a period of time and then they change. The beauty of these cycles of life on earth is this: We were made to live in seasons.
Just like summer transitions to fall, and spring follows the season of winter, you and I were also created to live mindful of the seasons of our lives on spiritual and creative levels. We can depend on, and should expect, seasons in our spiritual journeys. For those of us who are creatives, we should expect, anticipate, and prepare for seasons in our creativity as well, seasons of experiencing and of resting, of responding and creating, of walking our our gifts and callings.
There is another passage that talks about the one who delights in LORD:
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers (Psalm 1:3)
When we live in intimacy with God, we're connected to the source; in times of drought, the leaves of our tree stay green. But even in this, we were not made to constantly produce out of season. Much like a fruit tree, we were made to produce a harvest at its proper time. But fruit is produced through processes that start in the middle of winter, building up to that beautiful peach you eat in the heart of summer or that apple in the fall.
Just like that peach, the fruit that you and I produce takes patience and work in the difficult and isolated seasons and will eventually produce a similar and rewarding spiritual harvest.
For our team, we're seeing a harvest after over two years of preparation. If you're a creative, you may feel the same sort of pressure to produce and to release new content all the time. If you've felt that pressure and have questioned your fruitfulness in the process, what I want to share with you today is this: Know the season and do the work. Whatever season you're in, there is incredible opportunity and revelation in the midst.
If you're in that winter season, soak it up for all that it holds. Press into what God may be speaking into your life; the message for harvest may be found in the season of your waiting and your questions today.
The release is coming for you, and it will be all the sweeter when you press into preparation. Let us be people who live in intimacy with God and bear immense fruit at the proper times. And above all else, let us be faithful.
