Called to Create

by Lynn Blackburn @LynnHBlackburn

Called to Create has been on my radar—and my desk—for months. 

Even before I turned to the first page, I knew I was going to enjoy this book. The premise was intriguing. Friends have read and recommended it. I expected to jump in and finish it off in a week.

It’s been closer to four months. 

When I found myself digging around my desk for a highlighter after reading the first paragraph of the introduction, I knew this wasn’t going to be a quick read.Called to Create has been the kind of book where I’ve found myself needing to read a few pages and then let them swirl in my brain before coming back to read a few more.

The subtitle of Called to Create is “A Biblical Invitation to Create, Innovate, and Risk." If you’re reading this blog, the odds are in my favor that you’re already intrigued, but just in case you aren’t, let me share some of the questions addressed:

Is my work as an entrepreneur and creative really as God-honoring as that of a pastor or “full-time missionary”?

What does it look like to create not in order to make a name for myself but to glorify the One who has called me to create and love others? 

While my work may matter today, will my creations live on into eternity? 

Yeah…all this is in the introduction. (Please tell me y’all don’t skip the introduction!)

Part 1 tackles questions of calling. Part 2 focuses on why, what, and how we create. Part 3 addresses the unique challenges of the creative life including responding to failure and the balance between trust and hustle, and then Part 4 wraps it up with the charge to create disciples, the purposes of profit, and creating for the kingdom. 

The book is made up of both Jordan Raynor’s observations and a plethora of interviews, quotes, and anecdotes from Christian entrepreneurs and creatives. 

While my highlighter got quite the workout as I read, I found Part 3 to be exceptionally meaningful to where I am right now in my own creative life.

The day this post goes live, I will be less than a week away from releasing In Too Deep, the second book in my Dive Team Investigations series. You would think that I would be excited. And I am. But the week before I started reading Part 3, a few events conspired to pull me into a spiral of worry and anxiety. 

My mind raced with questions:

Should I have done more research? 

Maybe I could have proofed it one more time….

What if sales are awful?

What if I get horrible reviews?

What if people who loved the first book hate the second book?

What if  . . . ?

It wasn’t pretty. 

But in God’s infinite grace, I found myself reading the chapters specifically on the balance between trust and hustle and this quote really spoke to me: 

“It is God, not us, who produces results. In order to find true rest, hustling must be accompanied by even great trusting in God.”

And then this one nailed me between the eyes:

"When we rely on our hustling without trusting in God, we are either trying to play God or steal his glory."

Ouch.

These passages were followed by the chapter on handling failure, and then renewing our minds. 

I read Part 3 in a weekend. And then I re-read it. Because I needed all of it. I needed to remember why I create and for whom. 

As you read these words, I still don’t know what the answers to all those nagging questions will be. What I do know is that God used Called to Createto both encourage and convict me. I feel sure he will do the same for you. 

Grace and peace,

TWEETABLES
A book for creatives, reviewed by @LynnHBlackburn on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Called to Create - a book that will speak to writers as well as other creatives -@LynnHBlackburn on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Lynn H. Blackburn believes in the power of stories, especially those that remind us that true love exists, a gift from the Truest Love. She lives in South Carolina with her true love, Brian, and their three children. Her new Dive Team Investigations series kicked off in March of 2018 with Beneath the Surface. The second book in the series, In Too Deep, releases in November of 2018 with the third book to follow in 2019. She is also the author of Hidden Legacy and Covert Justice which won the 2016 Selah Award for Mystery and Suspense and the 2016 Carol Award for Short Novel. You can follow her real life happily ever after at WWW.LYNNHBLACKBURN.COM and on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, PINTEREST, and INSTAGRAM.