Time.

 
You must reclaim time to be creative if your art is to develop.

 
While Elsheimer agrees from the start that finding time for art is the battle of most creatives, she leaves little room for excuses. She challenges us to really examine our schedules, to prune away the unnecessary, the pointless and the meaningless to make room for a thriving relationship with our art form. (p.108-9) “To be an artist we have to integrate the spontaneity of the child with the disciplined mind of the adult.” (p.109) I love that. In essence, we must make time to play. We must put distractions out to pasture for a few hours each week and show up to play with focus. She goes on to explore the how divergent thinkers or those who shift from one thing to another quite easily, can actually benefit from doing so. I suppose then, the issue is to include shifting time into the process if this is your approach or tendency. Elsheimer quotes author of Time Management for Unmanageable People, Anne McGee-Cooper with the statement, “What seems like a disorganized, misdirected waste of time to the linear convergent person may be a divergent way of keeping the work going while we are waiting for our brain to produce the insights we need”. This choice allows for built-in breaks. While it works for me to a degree, I can easily go from break back to distraction.

 
I enjoyed the quiz on time management on page 112 and found the time resolutions on page 116 to be a much-needed structure help (they may end up on my studio cork board). I decided on but have yet to implement the use of my phone alarms as an aid to this goal. Studio appointment hours = no chatting on said phone. I must need a Discipline App. She recommends treating this appointment as we would one with a cherished friend or clock time on a job. (p.118) Since I am self-employed, the former is more effective for me. My studio now has the same fun elements as a date with a friend: tea, healthy snacks and a cheerful, energizing atmosphere. Now I want to show up and get to work. It is a welcome change from a dark, cluttered storage area.
 
What changes can you make to your art space to create an inspiring, inviting atmosphere?

 
Her analysis on our culture of multitasking was right on. (p.120-121) I myself am a recovering multitasker who realized chaotic isn't always productive. It brings the freedom of focus. She also gives practical tips on how to tame the technological threats to our creative time. (p128-134)

 
By far the most helpful nugget I took away from this chapter is that, “When we find the time to engage in our art, we engage in a kind of ministry.” Not only does God use His Spirit to infuse our work, but He also ministers to us as we collaborate with Him which then produces what will minister to others. She goes on to write that, “Making time for the Spirit of God to work through the talents he has given us is creating a a kind of prayer time. In those minutes, or hours, we give back to God some of what he has given us: attention, time and talent. We offer him the new spaces we create in our lives so that he can speak to us, inspire us, and answer our prayer that we learn how to follow his creative call.” In doing so, she says we work with the expectation that what we give back to the world will be something that, as Madeleine L”Engle writes, will “draw people to Christ by...showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it."
 
So making time for God to minister to us as we prepare something which will minister to the world takes on a much deeper meaning and its importance demands a schedule to that effect.