“The art of Gandalf improved with age.”
This line stuck out to me as my husband was reading “The Lord of the Rings” last week.
Ever since I read in Erwin Raphael McManus’ book ‘The Artisan Soul’, chapter 5 to be exact, where he talks about the idea of craftsmanship being built over a lifetime, and how the world has this idea that if you don’t hit greatness at any early age (Like Mozart or young Olympic gold medalists), you’re past your prime and won’t amount the anything (P.S. It’s not true).
McManus really unpacks this idea that it takes a lifetime to hone your skill and make art into true craftsmanship. And while this may be discouraging to some (“I’ll never get there! Why does it have to take so long?”, etc), I find it highly encouraging.
I find it encouraging because I don’t have to be there yet. There is room for improvement. I’m always learning, always growing, always trying something new and there’s always things to be explored and tried and experimented with. I’m still working on it, I myself, am still a work in progress, so why do I think that my art wouldn’t be?
Improving art with age is a great comfort to me. I, by no means, have reached some peak of craftsmanship or perfection in my creative pursuits. And knowing that it really only CAN get better from where I’m at is also encouraging.
It will get better, that is, if I keep working on it. If I don’t work on my craft on a regular basis, it’s not going to get better.
That can be discouraging too, or encouraging, depending on how you look at it.
I often tend to look at it as being discouraging, ‘I don’t have the time to work on my creative pursuits’ and often it’s true (Or maybe I’m just bad at time management).
But I think if I look at this as encouraging, that it WILL get better with time, no matter how little or much time I work on it (And some seasons allow more time than others), if I keep doing the 1%, then it will get better.
So, be encouraged, friend. There is more to be explored. There is more.
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