Of all the myths that pervade the songwriting landscape, there is perhaps no myth more damaging to our creative output than the one that says we must be inspired to write great songs.
The very word inspiration is a two-edged sword in that it can operate both as an explanation and as an excuse. If we’ve managed to write something wonderful we were “inspired.” If not, we’re left in the purgatory of waiting for the next bolt of lightning to strike us from above so we can get a few words and notes down on paper. Either way, we’ve surrendered all of our creative power over to something or someone else and cease to own it for ourselves.
In ancient times people didn’t believe that creativity was something residing within themselves, but that creativity was a sort of divine attendant spirit that came to them from some unknowable source for reasons they could not explain or control. The Greeks called these attendant spirits “daemons” and even Socrates said that he had a “daemon” that inspired him and that spoke wisdom to him from afar.
The Romans called them a genius and had an entire hierarchy of “genii” that were present as household guardian spirits a bit like we would think of our guardian angels (only we seem to believe we just get one apiece instead of hundreds).
For the ancients, any inspiration or “genius” was perceived to have come from outside of oneself as opposed to from within.
According to author Elizabeth Gilbert, this disembodied entity (think Dauby in the Harry Potter series) was useful in that it kept the artisan from being too proud of his work because it didn’t come from him. If his work was outstanding he had his genius to thank for it. If he wasn’t very good, after all, it was his genius’ fault and he didn’t have to feel so bad about himself. Very convenient, right?
From External to Internal Genius
After the Renaissance, however, the move towards humanism moved the genius to an internal motivation (talent, ability) that few possessed enough of to be called a “genius.” Today we don’t distinguish between the excelling artist, writer, poet, playwright, or sculptor and their genius and brilliance. They are a genius versus having one.
This bit of history is fascinating to me, especially in light of the way we say “God gave me this song.” On the surface it is probably a matter of semantics. God giving the song is basically the same as saying God is inspiring me to write a song or this idea was inspired in me by God.
God’s inspiring, fair enough.
But, from what I’ve seen, if we stick to the story that God’s giving the songs (i.e. He’s writing them and not us), God appears to be doling out a truckload of pitiful and poorly written songs, for the most part.
Further, the fact that we’re claiming they’ve come from outside of us, as if God is the “genius” in the wall popping in and out of our consciousness to “inspire us” (or not), relieves us from all responsibility for our craft. Imagine a brain surgeon trying to pull that logic off on unwitting patients.
Give Him All the Glory (But Remember Who Writes the Songs)
True, we want God to receive all the glory, so we put on a kind of false humility and go all “Shucks, you guys! God wrote it, not me…” not realizing that God made us, God gave us gifts and talents, and God is glorified when we use them extremely well. Believing we’re robbing Him of the glory because we’ve done well misses the point. He is THRILLED when we USE what He’s given us (Matthew 25).
What if we shifted our vocabulary and give Him praise for the talents He’s given us instead of acting like we had nothing to do with using them to get the results that He and we wanted? If we cannot own up to the fact that God inspires a lot of songs but most people don’t know how to capture them, how can we ever grow?
The sooner we can acknowledge that we need to learn how to write better songs the sooner the world will stop thinking we’re crazy or that God needs to go back to Junior College for a few grammar lessons. True inspiration occurs long before anyone picks up a pen and there’s no real reason to be theologically confused about it.
Inspiration happens the moment we realize our call to write.
Inspiration happens when we finally decide to go for it and actually pursue the calling.
Inspiration happens when we take definite steps to grow and stop waiting for something, even God, to inspire us.
Think about… God’s already done plenty to inspire us. Why do we think we have to keep waiting for Him to do anything more? He’s waiting on us now. We should be living in perpetual inspiration by the indwelling presence of Jesus (Colossians 1:27b).
One of my favorite quotes ever about inspiration is from hit songwriter, Tony Wood, who said, “The difference between you and me is that you wait until you feel inspired to write, but I write until I feel the inspiration.”
Here’s the truth about inspiration so you can go ahead and drop the unhelpful myth about it. Ready? We inspire ourselves. We keep waiting on God to do it and secretly blame Him when it seems like He isn’t coming through for us. This is a pandemic condition across all of Christendom – from evangelism to teaching to preaching to every kind of ministry and service imaginable.
We don’t lay hands on the sick because we don’t feel God inspiring us.
We don’t speak to our neighbors about the love of Jesus because we don’t feel inspired.
We don’t give to missions or serve in children’s ministry on Sundays because we don’t feel inspired.
But God’s already told us to heal, give, serve, and love whether we feel inspired to do so or not. It’s about obedient stewardship of the indwelling presence of God and not about personal feelings when it comes to living to glorify God. In 1st Corinthians 4:1 the Apostle Paul describes believers as “stewards of the mysteries of God.” As such, then, let us strive to become the best stewards possible.
CONCLUSION
It’s a lot easier to blame God for our lack of inspiration than it is to fully develop the talents He’s afforded us. It’s one thing to want to write great songs and another thing to actually invest ourselves in learning how to do it. You’re in the right place, so now it’s time to take real ownership of your time and talents and stop waiting on inspiration that can be fleeting.
One other analogy for you that may help.
You’re much more like a power plant than a bank. A bank holds funds that are withdrawn and then gone. A power plant contains no power but generates it as needed. You have control of the generators and can actually manufacture all the energy, inspiration, and creativity that you need, if you can only believe it.
I recommend that you begin to imagine that you are much more in control of your inspiration than you’ve thought in the past. You don’t have to wait on anyone else to bring it to you. God has given it already, so why not jump into it every day?
