Motivation Monday was previously a weekly Burner Blog feature. Now it is sporadic; sometimes these things happen.

Maira Kalman runs Brain Pickings, a weekly e-newsletter with all sorts of mentally stimulating tidbits. You should check it out.

You should especially check it out this week because she collated some thoughts that are true for artists–but are especially true for pastors:

…the idea that just showing up and doing the work, or what Jonah Lehrer calls “grit,” the same quality that Ira Glass says separates mere good taste from great work and Anne Lamott believes is the secret to telling a good story – is just as important as the notion of “inspiration” in the creative process.

Further (and maybe the only relevant thought Jack White has for the church), it’s not about knowing exactly what will come about, but it is about…faith?

Inspiration and work ethic – they ride right next to each other…. Not every day you’re gonna wake up and the clouds are gonna part and rays from heaven are gonna come down and you’re gonna write a song from it. Sometimes, you just get in there and just force yourself to work, and maybe something good will come out.

There is a lot of stuff that we do, Pastor/Staff Member/Church Leader, and sometimes obvious Furthering of the Kingdom appears instantly. There is a lot of stuff that we do that doesn’t appear to do anything. But if we can learn–and we should always be able to learn!–to do the work as great artists do, then at the end of our lives the Kingdom of God will have been furthered in our contexts.

But first, we have to do the work.

Happy Monday!

Tags: Brain Pickings, Jack White, work