This is my second Faith Art Friday. A day of the week set aside to ponder the connection between The Creator, and us as artists who create. And a day to create art just for the purpose of glorifying God.

But Friday, only five minutes away as I write this, is after a long two days of joyous cooking and family times during the Thanksgiving holiday. So here I am, it’s late and I promised I would share, but my creations have been eaten tonight and I’m overdue for sleep. How fitting then that God should point me to this excerpt to share with you right now…

With God’s help set realistic expectations. God deserves our best efforts, but does God expect us to perform perfectly? Of course not. Can God use something or someone that is imperfect? Can He use a song that is sung or played imperfectly? Of course He can. The major source of frustration in my life stems from me walking into situations with expectations that are unreasonable and too high. Psalm 62:5 tells us, “My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him” (KJV). Our expectations need to come from God. We need to give our expectations over to Him and exchange them for what He expects, not what we expect. While we might be expecting artistic perfection, that might be the furthest thing from God’s mind. Try to keep the big picture in mind. God cares about all the details of our artistic endeavors, but He’s also in the business of saving souls. What’s more important? That our efforts come off perfectly or that God’s name be praised and that lost people come to know Him through our ministry? Try to keep things in His perspective.

If God doesn’t demand perfection, what does He expect? He expects us to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with Him (Mic. 6:8). God expects us to grow spiritually. The end result is His responsibility. Our job is to cooperate with the process. We put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect (the end product), when God is more concerned with the process (that we walk humbly with Him).

So what’s realistic to expect when we minister for God? Every time we use our gifts for Him, we need to go into it wanting to do the best we can but trusting God’s will to be done, not our self-centered, lofty expectations to be met. People look at the outside and expect the appearance of perfection, but God looks at our hearts (1Sam. 16:7). He looks at the inside, at our motives and intentions. We can control our motives and how prepared we are to minister with our talents. We simply have to do our best and trust God for the result He wants.

From , “The Heart of the Artist” , by Rory Noland

My hope is that your Thanksgiving was special and continues to be throughout this holiday weekend! May you give it all to God and praise Him for all He’s given you!