What Is? or What IF?
Football season has tackled our attention. Across the country underdogs prepare to face self-proclaimed, or at least sports-prognosticator proclaimed, champions. In the locker room of every school fielding an underdog team you can hear echoes of a coach declaring, “We can beat them. You just have to want it more than they do.”
Talent or passion? The question ranks right up alongside nature or nurture.
Forecasters on the sports pages inevitably choose talent. Yet week after week the underdogs manage to produce those upsets which cause us to root for their success.
What I know about football would fit inside a deflated pigskin. But when it comes to creativity, I choose to sit on the side of desire every time. Those with great ability have a great playbook, but it tends to concentrate on the tried-and-true. Their emphasis, even in creative endeavors, favors the “what-is!”
Those motivated by desire provide the passion displayed by the football underdogs. Instead of being satisfied with “what is” they discard the tried-and-true in favor of “what if.”
Goliath had already proved himself to be a champion. The entire Philistine army trusted him to represent their team and bring home a victory. David had the desire. God used that desire to create a totally new military weapon out of what had previously been considered a hobby, a simple pastime for shepherd boys. Desire won!
The hare declared victory before the race had ever begun. Ability prognosticators predicted a run-away championship. The tortoise had desire. He invented a new competition where endurance mattered more than speed. Desire won!
A woodcutter provides an income for his family through talent—what is! A creative lumberman asks what if—invents a chainsaw, and starts an industry.
Dust off those creative dreams. Re-energize those almost-forgotten goals. Let your desire to serve God creatively kick talent right off the field. “What is” may earn the accolades of those who try to predict Friday night light outcomes. But “what if” will come out of the shadows and score an upset when desire ignites creativity for the glory of God.
Talent or passion? The question ranks right up alongside nature or nurture.
Forecasters on the sports pages inevitably choose talent. Yet week after week the underdogs manage to produce those upsets which cause us to root for their success.
What I know about football would fit inside a deflated pigskin. But when it comes to creativity, I choose to sit on the side of desire every time. Those with great ability have a great playbook, but it tends to concentrate on the tried-and-true. Their emphasis, even in creative endeavors, favors the “what-is!”
Those motivated by desire provide the passion displayed by the football underdogs. Instead of being satisfied with “what is” they discard the tried-and-true in favor of “what if.”
Goliath had already proved himself to be a champion. The entire Philistine army trusted him to represent their team and bring home a victory. David had the desire. God used that desire to create a totally new military weapon out of what had previously been considered a hobby, a simple pastime for shepherd boys. Desire won!
The hare declared victory before the race had ever begun. Ability prognosticators predicted a run-away championship. The tortoise had desire. He invented a new competition where endurance mattered more than speed. Desire won!
A woodcutter provides an income for his family through talent—what is! A creative lumberman asks what if—invents a chainsaw, and starts an industry.
Dust off those creative dreams. Re-energize those almost-forgotten goals. Let your desire to serve God creatively kick talent right off the field. “What is” may earn the accolades of those who try to predict Friday night light outcomes. But “what if” will come out of the shadows and score an upset when desire ignites creativity for the glory of God.
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