Art, Writing and the Holy Spirit

In the legendary English mystery writer Agatha Christie’s book The Hollow a character tells what’s it’s like to be a sculptor. She says an image of a work she’s about to create begins to get at her, nag and haunt her, until she must sculpt it.

I understood perfectly. Sometimes the process of writing feels similar. An idea forms inside me and won’t leave and stirs about until I feel I must get it out to get some peace in my mind again. It’s disturbing and challenging at the same time. And usually delightful.

Later I was still thinking about the arts when I picked up the Christian classic by R. A. Torrey, The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. (Usually I have a book of fiction and non-fiction going at the same time.) I started connecting artistic inspiration with the work of the Holy Spirit.

What about the nudges of the Holy Spirit? Often people tend to think of Him as purely a force to guide us, but the Holy Spirit is a Person. He gets inside of us, enlightens and directs and doesn’t leave. He stirs us up inside until we feel a holy compulsion to follow His leading. It’s mysterious and exciting and fulfilling. The impulses within us created by the Holy Spirit have other-world dimension, life-changing potential, divine capability. We derive deep satisfaction from responding to Him and rightly so.

And through it all the Holy Spirit is utterly relational, fine tuning us, our gifts, while infusing peace and joy. Cool beyond words!

Read about nudges of the Holy Spirit in Love Always, Mom available as an e-book on amazon.