Talent is promissory in nature—an indicator of creative and career promise and potential. When an artist initially undertakes the shepherding of their gift and answers the call to create, there can be a honeymoon phase of idealization towards its potential, followed by a maturation process of testing and development that may reroute their career ambitions. When artists and creatives encounter a reconfiguration of their original aspirations in the career choices that lie ahead, how can compromise be avoided?
Contextually, the act of compromise is a loaded concept. In some instances, it is viewed as subjugation—a settling for less, in the face of opposition. In other instances, the practice is considered an art unto itself and is lauded as a life skill, in the ability to preserve a sense of parity between parties in the midst of conflict for the sake of relationship. In the case of an artist proceeding forward on alternate roads than envisioned, the determining factor in realizing the promise of their talent versus the compromising of that promise can be found in the heart of their decision to continue onwards in the face of a detour. When an artist concedes to the road ahead out of fear or anxiety, it signals compromise. When the road is taken out of love for craft, faith and the desire for exploration, it results in evolution.
Although the creative career is largely an unpredictable path of unknowns, the one promise that remains constant and tangible throughout its undertaking is in the covenant of faith that an artist makes in their decision to continue forward in the cultivation of their talent and the exploration of its purpose. This level of faith is a life skill and necessity that is repeatedly emphasized throughout scripture—and regularly referenced by the following passage:
“To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see--It is by faith that we understand that the universe was created by God’s word, so that what can be seen was made out of what cannot be seen.”
Career decisions made in covenant with faith will successfully steer an artist toward the full realization and evolution of their gift—while deterring them from avenues of fear-based compromise and the deadheading of the promise of creative talent.