Godly Glimpses
How Crowder Finds Perspective in the Creative Process
Where creativity intertwines with faith, contemporary Christian artist, David Crowder paints an intriguing landscape of thoughts about his writing process. In a conversation with Family Life Radio, Crowder shared about his creativity, collaboration and the ventures we engage in.
Crowder illustrates his creative process with a tender metaphorical touch, likening it to a cautious collector, awaiting the right gust of inspiration to sift through collected musings and piece together a coherent picture.
“When the wind starts blowing, I have stuff that I’ve collected, and I can sort through and put something together. But when you’re putting it together, it feels like two things.”
His narrative unfolds with poetic comparisons to a fragile soap bubble floating, an elusive conversation heard through a wall and a cautious descent down a ladder in darkness.
“If you’ve ever washed dishes, you’re standing over the sink and maybe like a little soap bubble pops up and it starts floating,” Crowder shares. “It’s kind of hovering in the air, and you’re scared to look directly at it. So, you just look away because you know if you look right at it, it’s going to pop. So you don’t.”
Crowder continues, “Or you’re listening to a conversation that’s happening on the other side of the wall, and you can only make out a few words or syllables, so you try to piece it together. Or it’s like climbing down a ladder at night, and so you’re looking for your foot on the next rung of the latter and then, ‘Oh, this feels good. I’ll step on that.’”
Crowder’s depiction holds an inviting gentleness in it, suggesting God’s voice in a whisper accompanies the strokes of creativity.
The Beating Heart of Collaboration
“Selfless is the component of all collaboration,” Crowder says. Collaboration drafts an image of a nurturing environment where every idea finds validation, opening the door to a space free for authentic expression.
“So in thinking about song, if you’re in a room, everybody is super aware of an idea that they have laid out in front of everyone. And so you’ve got to create an environment where it feels like every idea is valid. And that would be the same for any kind of relationship,” Crowder shares.
“You want to create an environment where you’re not judged in a moment where you’re the most vulnerable.”
Philippians 2:3-4 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (NIV).
Where do you sit?
Shifting your gaze from a story focused on yourself to being part of God’s grander narrative invites a fresh and potentially transforming perspective. “It depends on where something (or someone) is located to have the proper view,” Crowder continues. “The main perspective has to do with –where do I sit in the story of God? … I’m going to have a better outlook if I understand I’m a part of what God’s writing rather than mine.”
Crowder emphasizes finding your identity in Christ as the cornerstone for a balanced life. “It’s the most difficult thing for a human to see outside of themselves because we feel like we’re the center of things. And that’s what’s beautiful about the moment when all of the universe shifted from earth perspective to the sun as the center, and we were revolving around it. Then oh, the moon doesn’t glow, it’s just a ball that’s reflecting. So perspective is EVERYTHING!”
Galatians 2:20 says, “I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore—it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me” (NCV).
“When you understand that your identity is not in your personhood, but in the person, who of Christ, hat thing will flip your world view immediately. If you get that, you get what Christ is about and being a part of His story. That’s a beautiful thing to be a part of.”
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