Why so inquisitive?  Well – it intrigues me to know what it is that other artists do, how you might define your own art, and even your approach to the creative process.

I really want to encourage you to share your thoughts on this.

My guess is when we look back through the posted comments; they’ll reveal a descriptive array of thinking that resembles an ornate fabric of creative diversity woven together, which reflects what inspires us to do what we do.

Follow The Art of Helping Others at Twitter or join our Facebook fan page.

But I like to think that art is a kind of confession for artists, some blatant, others more or less oblique, but all digging deep below the surface of life, probing beyond the ordinary and mundane, unearthing insight and meaning in its stories.

If we choose (and we do have a choice), the art we create and share can have the audacity, the dramatic suddenness to move people, to be a bit impolite perhaps and so disquieting that it challenges fixed perceptions and perspectives.

And while our work is like preparing for a good accident to happen, I like to believe our art is meant to reveal and give life a shape, whatever that may look like, and we as artists are in a sense, God’s little pickpockets.

Support the charitable work of The Art of Helping Others.  Visit our Artist Gallery Page to order art prints or contact the artists directly if interested in original art.

For The Art of Helping Others T-shirts and more, visit our Merchandise Store at TheArtofHelpingOthers.com, where up to 25% of the proceeds are given to charity.  Thanks for practicing the art of helping others.

Brennan Manning once said, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door, and deny him with their lifestyle.  That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

How can this be?  My personal opinion isn’t prophetic or theological, two things I’ll never likely be accused of in my lifetime.  I think it’s simply that we’re fallen people in need of some emergency care.  Okay, probably loads of emergency care.  In fact, churches remind me more of emergency rooms (i.e., “casualty” as is said in Europe) and that’s not necessarily a bad thing at all – actually, that’s a good thing, if not a great thing.

If we come to understand this, even embrace and let others see it – I think the more they will relate to us, because after all, we’re really more like them than we may care to admit.  Hey – each of us can be counted among the walking wounded, limping side by side on this journey; maybe we should consider locking arms together.  Imagine that.

To support the charitable work of The Art of Helping Others, visit our Artist Gallery Page to order reasonably priced fine art prints.  Or you can visit The Art of Helping Others Merchandise Store for t-shirts and more.  Thanks for practicing the art of helping others.

What a disturbing yet beautiful quote, “Silence is the real crime against humanity,” from Nadezhda Mandelstam. I’ve found that it’s difficult enough being open to life itself but retreating from it brings its own dangers.

The answer isn’t surrounding ourselves with people who are nice and clean while we ignore the pain around us.  That only helps us to lose sight that we actually live in a lost and dying world, among people who have no real idea how much their Creator loves them.

What’s the easy shortcut to remedy this?  Ah – there is none.  But a good starting point is when those around us know that we as Christians truly understand them; then they may well conclude that perhaps God understands them too.

Maybe our silence, inability or unwillingness to act should be considered a crime against humanity.  Or possibly we should endeavor to practice the art of helping others, which in essence is living out the gospel.

That could mean reaching out to someone across the world, or to a neighbor in their time of need and perhaps – even your own time of need.  Giving sacrificially if not from your own resources, but of your time – because that is just as meaningful and worth more than what you may believe.

What legacy will each of us choose to leave behind?  Have we mindlessly bought into a culture more interested in making headlines than history, or one that’s content to do nothing at all?

To support the charitable work of The Art of Helping Others, please visit our Artist Gallery Pages to order art products.  Or you can visit The Art of Helping Others merchandise store for T-shirts and more.   Thanks for practicing the art of helping others.

Days later, an email arrives in my inbox from him saying that obviously we see things from different perspectives and approaches, and that he will not share with his audience about what we do.  That was it – done and dusted, no other explanation.  Initially, I was a bit disappointed, but really – mostly perplexed.

I’m okay not getting a mention on his blog, but idealist that I am, what troubled me most is I had hoped that in the arts, culture, faith, current events – you know, wherever or whatever direction your political, economic, geographic, religious, cause-related compass points, that ultimately, there would be room enough for diversity and discussion.  Yes, feel free to pity idealists like me…

What do I take from this as I walk away and glance over my shoulder?  For some people, there may be room enough for diversity in the matter of opinion – as long as it aligns with their own, but unfortunately dialogue doesn’t always seem to be a part of the process, and that is indeed a shame.  Why?  Because if we choose not to dialogue, how will we ever begin to understand one another and where we’re coming from.

If you’re inclined, let me know if there’s something I’ve missed.  Idealistically Yours.

One interesting topic of discussion at the conference that resonated with many of us was the thought of art as a hammer to shape culture.  This comes from the quote, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”  So what does that mean?  That’s a good question, which I may not have a watertight answer for – but I do have an opinion.

While I believe we should hold a mirror up to everyday life and reveal the reality – even the frailty of the human condition, we should pick up the hammer, be forward thinking, innovative and imaginative enough to be creatively dangerous, and shape our “circles of influence” in our communities, which will eventually affect culture itself.

So, what is the hammer?  I like to think in part it’s the words you write from the depths of your heart that inspire others, the lyric and melody of a song longing to be heard, a painter’s brush wielded with emotion and faith across a canvas, a moment in time captured through the photographer’s camera lens that needs no words yet leaves us in awe.  The dancer that dances first, then thinks later.  It’s the power of the arts to uncover truth.

Disregard what others expect of you or may think and employ the hammer passionately – use it differently than ever before.

Is it because we prefer safety and predictability?  Unfortunately, good art isn’t always safe or predictable, and while being in control is comfortable, it’s not exactly biblical and has little to do with exercising faith.