Friday, July 24, 2009

Beginning... or Finishing



What keeps us from beginning... or finishing?

Fear of...
Others
Pain
Rejection
Failure
Change
Embarrassment
Vulnerability
Critics
Loss
Poverty
Being Wrong
Madness
Death
Success
_________ (fill in the blank)

I watched the movie, Valkyrie recently. Good film, though it was sobering. I was reminded that Hitler wanted to be an artist. This isn't in the show, but apparently at age 18, young Adolph took his inheritance money and moved to Vienna to study art. He applied to the Academy of Fine Arts. I think fear won out.

"It was easier for Hitler to start WWII than to stare at a blank piece of canvas." Steven Pressfield, from The War of Art

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5 comments:

Ardy said...

what keeps me from beginning ...or finishing? definitely its the fear of becoming more of a cliche...as much as possible i would like to do things under God's provision. So if it His will for me then I humbly do it, if its not then I just pray for acceptance.

Jonathan Foster said...

interesting response... cliche... it would be great for you to expand on that

Ardy said...

hmm... well I am the type of person who enthusiast on many things. When I am blessed with something or inspired by people around me I tend to think of a unique way that I myself will be a blessing to them and become an inspiration as well. Now here's what hinders me to start with something...it really disappoints me to think that I will get tired someday of what I am doing but have no choice to stop because I don't want to be a stumbling block to others. I don't want that feeling to control me because the only reason for me to go on is not me but the other people. I hope you know what I mean. That's why I really pray when I plan to do something.

Jonathan Foster said...

that's really interesting... thanks for sharing that.

yeah, i can relate to that. i know when it came time for me to step away from the most recent church plant we started that i distinctly had that feeling.

i struggle with it. bible says that "finishing is better than starting."

then again, it says that life is seasonal (psalm 1), that unless a kernal of wheat falls to the ground and dies it can't produce and that there is a time for everything.

hmmm, makes me think...

Ardy said...

amen! Just let God do the provision and eveything will fall into its proper place.=)