One day I’ll be able to write something without linking to Marc Barnes. Alas, today is not the day. I keep thinking about his post, simply titled Be Awesome, in which he issues a rallying cry for Catholics to step up our game. He points out that the world needs to see the beauty of the Faith now more than ever:
The things we do should be fantastic. We’re not just anyone, we’re Catholics! What we do reflects our Church, and our Church is the only sane thing left in the world! Strive for excellence then, glorify God by using every drop of talent He’s given you, because I do believe that—now more than ever—our Church needs to reaffirm that we have brought the world the best literature, art, architecture, music and life it has. And that we still do.
Others have been talking about the importance of Catholic awesomeness as well: Simcha Fisher recently reminded us that Catholics need to know how to write well, then told us how to do it. Steven Lawson brought St. Francis de Sales in to make the point that the visual presentation of Catholic messages matters, especially with our websites.
I love this. I couldn’t agree more with Simcha, Steven, Marc and everyone else who’s been addressing this issue lately. In my own life, this idea has inspired me to spend years intensely studying the craft of book writing, so that my memoir about my conversion to Catholicism will be as good as possible. The hope of bringing glory to God in the form of a well-written book has fueled all the hard work and sacrifice that this project has entailed. But every now and then I’ve gotten tripped up by a certain thought:
Am I being too worldly?
Surely I cannot say that there is not a single drop of pride polluting my desire to produce something great. It’s true that I want to bring glory to God…but that doesn’t mean that there’s no part of me that wants to bring a little glory to Jen, too. The state of the publishing industry leaves me with no temptation to fantasize about riches flowing into my bank account from royalty checks, but even a small amount of extra cash would be nice, and I’ve daydreamed about what I might do with the money. In short, sometimes I worry that I’m too sinful to try this whole “bringing glory to God by creating something beautiful” thing. I convince myself that all this effort I’m putting forth is nothing more than an attempt to inflate my own ego, and that the holy thing to do would be to stop working so hard on this, just slap together something easy, and call it a day.
Luckily, I’ve had some great confessors and spiritual directors over the past few years, and I’ve learned a lot by talking through these kinds of thoughts with them. They affirmed that we as Catholics should strive to be great at whatever we do, but helped me come up with some guidelines to keep my focus in the right place. I’ve found that the four simple rules below act as a safeguard to prevent too much worldliness from creeping into the creative process:
1. Put prayer first. I’m embarrassed to admit how many times I’ve thought, There’s no time for prayer, because I need to go work on that thing I’m writing about the importance of prayer! Blowing off time spent with God in a misguided effort to glorify God is a surefire way to let worldly ambitions cloud your creative process.
2. Put your primary vocation first. My spiritual director used the litmus test “How does this impact your primary vocation?” for all types of discernment, but I’ve found it particularly helpful in keeping my heart in the right place with my book project. The main way God has called us to serve is through our vocations, and the duties that come with that should always be our top priorities. So, when I caught myself wondering if the kids could handle all three meals on their own if I left out the economy sized box of granola bars while I locked myself in my room to write, it was a sign that I needed a small (or, okay, a large) priority readjustment.
3. Don’t fixate on being better than other people. I can’t remember who told me this one, but it was probably some holy person who heard one of my “That hack is on the New York Times bestseller list again?!” routines. It’s good to want to make this project better than your last, to work hard to produce the best finished product you possibly can. But if you find yourself feeling jealous of other people’s success, or feel like your efforts are driven by a desire to be more respected/successful/acclaimed than certain individuals, that’s a sign that you’ve gone off track.
4. Accept failure. God may call us to create something astounding in its splendor…then use it to bless only one other person. Though this would be a glorious success, it would look like a failure from a worldly perspective. For me, the quickest way to discover how Christ-centered my attitude about my current project is is to ask myself the question: When this is finished, if I have done my best and created what God wanted me to create, and it is not successful in a commercial sense, how would I react? Depending on the day, my answers have ranged from, “I would find great peace in knowing that at least the Lord is happy with my efforts,” to “I WOULD SET MY COMPUTER ON FIRE OUT OF SPITE”—whatever the answer, it always reveals what my real goal is here.
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I hope these tips are as helpful to others as they have been to me. Now, let’s go be awesome!
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One day I’ll be able to comment without mentioning Marc Barnes. That day is not today, either.
(If you haven’t already, check out http://badcatholicblog.blogspot.com)
I’m copying your 4 point headlines and posting them above my desk. They say so much and get right to the point. Thank you! Blessings upon you and your family.
It’s important to remember that while pride and vainglory are sins, so is pusillanimity or faint-heartedness – not daring to do all you have it in you to do, like the servant who buried his talent in the ground. Too relentlessly examining one’s own motives can be crippling, as you suggest: if I waited to try to do “something awesome” until my motives were totally pure, that would ensure I would not get to that point because I would be turning down opportunities offered me to exercise virtue and grow as a human being. (Also, of course, there’s nothing wrong per se in hoping to be paid for one’s work; most of the greatest works of art, including Catholic art, would never have existed if the artists had had to produce them for free. Part of the reason for the glories of the Renaissance and Baroque is that the popes and other patrons were extremely generous to good artists…)
Does anyone have any suggestions for books on how to write well? Specifically novels?
Great, great post! I struggle with these same things all the time. Your 4 points are a good checklist for keeping things real. The comment above by Apple Pie is awesome too to remind us that God does want us to be awesome and to shine!
And just as important is that this belongs in the realm of each person regardless of their day job. Although an epic fail all the time I am, the Lord wants offered to Him a well written post on Catholic living, laying other brick on a building, changing a dirty diaper, driving errands, creating a spreadsheet, installing a new program, buying a car, voting on council, etc.
This article beautifully captures my heart…. that the trouble with the world and our nation, in particular is not that there are Liberals, Pornography, XXX rated down to R and even PG -13 immoral movies, television and media outlets, but that there are so few EXCELLENT Catholics living OUT LOUD More Like Heaven LIVES, collaboratively building Communities and Business ventures, that produce content, products, entertainment, that is Godly, Energizing, Uplifting, Renewing, Restoring…. I also think that we must take time out every day to look at how we are living individually and as an organized part of the Body of Christ from God’s perspective; we live in a unique and wonderful time. Imagine for a moment if the Corinthians, Ephesians, Philipians, Galatians, Romans… were all online… I believe that we might find that they each understood and misunderstood parts of what we as Catholics have held sacred throughout history..not without knock-out, drag-out deliberations about TRUTH along the historical timeline.. and perhaps they would resemble the denominational “BERLIN WALL-like” barriers that is keeping us as The catholic Body of Christ looking more like a Victim of Body part mutilation than the Bride of Christ preparing for THE BRIDEGROOM to return. I believe this is a TIME in the HISTORY of Mankind that once we re-discover or perhaps as we re-discover our God-given GREATNESS, we work also to tie our nets of greatness together with the rest of the Body of Christ so as to collaborate at a level of WONDERFULNESS contagious and compelling to those who are weary, hopeless, overwhelmed, and/or in despair!
The “awesome” comes from being “children” of an Awesome God!—Glory Be To Him Who IS Father, Son and Holy spirit! Good Inspiration!
The term “spiritual director” is kind of odd. Sounds Mormony.
Great recommendations! But why don’t we aspire to be humble anymore? Is it because it seems incompatible with awesomeness? Is it a paradox of piety? Or does our culture just naturally look down on the humble-hearted and we’re afraid of being despised?
I think anyone who regularly follows your four steps is already an awesome Catholic.
“Put prayer first.”
Hilarious. Of course prayer is worthless. Perhaps some sort of “mantra” might be just as helpful to a person.
“Put your primary vocation first.”
Wait, have you just put two different things “first”?
“Don’t fixate on being better than other people.”
That’s wise. There are always other people that will be better at some things than you are. Or simply luckier.
“Accept failure.”
And then get up and try again.
“We’re not just anyone, we’re Catholics!”
We’re sooo special. We are the One True Religion.
“we have brought the world the best literature, art, architecture, music”
Oops, you forgot science. Oh wait. Science has nothing to do with your “belief without evidence”.
“to prevent too much worldliness”
Oh no. Stay away from reality.
@Mike McCants
Four tips to be an awesome troll:
Use the internet to bully people because if you said the same things in public someone might tell on you.
Pick on the sweetest, most innocent people you can find. That way they won’t fight back.
Try your best to make them cry by stabbing them with your razor sharp wit. If you don’t have a sharp wit, just bludgeon them with sarcasm and mockery.
Now sit back and enjoy the sheer thrill of knowing that the world is no match for your evil genius. Just hurry up…your big sister want’s to use the computer.
Thank you, Mrs. Fulwiler. The advice about how any decision will affect our primary vocation is one I will take to heart.
“to bully people”
How can I possibly “bully” people? Of course you people reject my opinion. I have no effect on your “belief without evidence”. “Jesus loves you” and that is sufficient for your irrationality.
“if you said the same things in public”
Fortunately, I seldom encounter such crazy nonsense “in public”. Of course I do have some “Jesus” stories from the thousands of people that I help with their income tax returns. But it is not my place to comment in such situations.
“Pick on the sweetest, most innocent people you can find.”
Go read about the atrocities of the Church in Ireland. They picked on innocent children.
“bludgeon them with sarcasm and mockery”
I’m doing my best.
“that the world is no match”
Hilarious. All ten readers of this very tiny world? But yes, your irrationality is obviously no match for my rationality.
“want’s”
Your use of an apostrophe is incorrect.
bwaaa haaa!!! The hunter has become the hunted. If there was any doubt about what a pathetic los….oh gee….I think I went to far. Now I feel bad. Sorry. You probably aren’t such a bad guy after all. Thank you for visiting this “very tiny world” and pointing out the “crazy nonsense.” I am no match for your super rationality and superior punctuation skills. So please don’t bludgeon me with your…er…I mean cut me with your razor sharp wit! Believe it or not, Jesus loves you just as much as me.
I guess what I was trying to say was…forgive me?
“Jesus loves you just as much as me.”
I believe it! Of course I believe that Jesus died a long time ago, so he has no idea who you are and no idea who I am and therefore “Jesus loves you just as much as me” is equivalent to “Jesus could not possibly “love” anyone who is living today”.
“I think I went to far.”
The use of “too” would be correct in that sentence.
“forgive me?”
From Wiki: “Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution.” It would seem that you think you have offended me in some way. Well, I have no anger, resentment, or indignation at anything you wrote. You are entitled to your opinion, benighted as it may be.
too?....ooooh!!! You got me again. I give up. It’s all yours from here on out. Good luck and thanks for the proof reading!
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