Your Input affects Someone’s Input

Your Input Affects Someone’s Input

This is the third attempt at this post. Why? Because my input drastically affects my output.

“PANDEMIC RESTRICTION CHANGES!”

So how do we reconnect? 

“BLACK LIVES MATTER”

…is a common theme. Sadly, my depth of black literature is thin. 😞

Adding to my input mix, I attended an online art conference hosted by The Breath and the Clay. The title of the conference was…

“COME AND SEE”

…with…

“PERSPECTIVE”

…as the main theme.  After all of this, I needed time to be still and breathe. I wish to honor our time together with substance, encouragement, and love. As you leave the screen you receive input which will affect someone else’s input. I call this:

Creative Connection

What makes a Creative Connection?

A creative connection allows the soul to go deep, to feel, and then express. Life is taking in what surrounds them, but as artists and  creatives we have unique intake and output opportunities. Stephen Rouch (Makers and Mystics) brought people together for a podcast entitled Art As Healing. As you listen to this discussion, you hear people from all walks converse on the benefits of taking in and sharing. The input received from life goes into the artistic expression of OUTPUT. Input flows to Output which flow again to Input. Are you the next Input?

Is This Really Important?—YES

Artists in various genres have the opening to stop, listen, and express soul to soul. Think of this deep reality when considering God calling us His Poiema, His Handiwork.

  ¹⁰ For we are the product of His hand, heaven’s poetry etched on lives, created in the Anointed, Jesus, to accomplish the good works God arranged long ago.

Ephesians 2:10 Voice

 .

 Not all Input/Output has Received Equal Value

Not all Input has received equal treatment.

Have you ever worked hard on an art piece or writing only to be snubbed or to ask? “Did anyone ever look at it?” Even though we are not to take our identity from our work, rejection is not an easy pill to handle.

What if the rejection was not because of poor quality or writing, but because of the color of the writer?

  This type of rejection in the artistic world may not be as prevalent today as it once might have been. What you now see, read, and hear reflect a series of battles fought long and hard by brave black men and women. The input we receive goes deeper than mere words and song. The input we receive is the output of creatives who refused to say, “NO!” Listen to their soul.

Going back to the podcast “Art As Healing”, Stephen’s intent was to gather artists to talk honestly concerning how creatives are necessary in bringing God’s Heart and Voice to a hurting world: 

“I’ve said often that the artist is an architect of hope and a voice of reconciliation for a divided world.“

For this to take place, the input we acquire into our souls is not a simple matter. Rather we need to be aware of what is coming in and ask God to change what needs to be changed. As white people, we have made major errors in history, but are we willing to drop the reigns we have used as security blankets and say, “God, what must I do to see with Your eyes?”  What input needs to be set aside to make room for the input God want to give? Recognize your input affects someone’s input. Is this a time for new beginnings? if so what must be done to reflect God’s Heart?

What about a cleaning out so we can be open to His INPUT.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God;

    restore within me a sense of being brand new.

God, make a fresh start in me,

    shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.

Psalm 51:10 Voice

God’s Input -Your Output- Someone’s Input

In case you missed it. here are great options for your summer reads. Both include lists of black authors and books. We Need Both Wisdom and Knowledge and Books to read.

  There is also an Instagram post from Makers and Mystics that I am including which will richly bless your input –Links from conversations with incredible black artists.

Please God, Open our eyes and hearts to receive your input, May we confess our fear, unwillingness, or lack to include love beyond our safe walls. Reflect upon the volumes of wealth available. When we say YES to You, may the Response bring a deep output pointing to You in Your Fullness.