Planting Season

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens . . . a time to plant and a time to uproot.

—Ecclesiastes 3:1–2

I find it’s helpful to have sort of a theme or focus for each season. What is this season about? What are my highest priorities for this segment of time? What do I say yes to, and what do I say no to . . . and what priorities guide those choices?

There are some things, of course, that are priorities in every season—faith, marriage, parenting, friendship. But it helps me to have a few framing ideas beyond those, ideas that shape how I spend my time and energy for that season.

This is an inspiration season, a planting season. I believe that inspiration is something we create, something we’re responsible for. I don’t believe in waiting for it to show up. I believe that being an artist means you live a life of imagination and inspiration instead of sitting down at your laptop expecting it to show up at just the moment you need it.

It’s planting season—a time to plant seeds and sow my imagination with images and themes and ideas, trusting that when it’s time to harvest, what I’m planting now will be enough.