Create Anyway Quotes

“Radical obedience, at the heart, is the sheer act of saying, "Yes, Lord." Yes, I'll go there. Yes, I'll do that. I'll give you my best effort because YOU are worthy of my best offering. Radical obedience is a zealous commitment to fulfilling whatever holy work God sets in front of our hands.

This means where God calls, we go. When God calls us to write, we write. When God asks us to sing, we sing. As artists made in the image of the ultimate Artist, we paint and draw and sew and sculpt, not bitterly or lazily, but with enthusiasm, devotion, and a sense of joyful eagerness to participate. Because when we link arms with our Creator to do what He uniquely designed us to do, we usher a bit of the Kingdom into this world--and God gets the glory for it.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“If you view creativity as a selfish act, you will always struggle to justify making time for it.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“To color and bake and arrange flowers in a jar, to do whatever it takes to keep making beautiful things in a broken world.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“…creativity is essential to our human flourishing, and therefore worth pursuing whether or not you receive payment or applause as a result.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“Film, like all of creativity, requires surrender, releasing our work into the world knowing it is not perfect, and perhaps even, the extra grain is what makes it special.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“In the end, Noah's labor resulted in far more than a simple ark that stayed afloat. All those hours co-laboring with God led to something far greater: a rainbow, a promise, a covenant between God and every living creature on earth.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“Perfectionism is rooted in anxiety, frustration, and endless striving. Radical obedience is rooted in peace, joy, and endless surrender. Perfectionism chokes, paralyzes, and prevents us from even starting. Radical obedience launches, spurs, and propels us forward.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“Both motherhood and creativity involve risk and require courage. We might never feel ready or prepared, but that's where the leap of faith comes in.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“When we create lovely things that point back to the goodness of our Maker, we are giving an account of the hope that is in us.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“You desperately want all the right tools because you want to mother 'the right way'. But motherhood is messy, and raw, and nuanced, and requires things a baby registry could never provide: surrender, and trust, and dependence on the Lord Almighty to fuel you with grace, with perseverance, with steadfast love, with sacrificial willingness to get up the next morning with your eyes half shut and do it all over again. That is what you need to mother.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“Because every minute spent pining for that cabin in the woods is a minute lost on creating something beautiful in the actual life you are living.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“I once heard someone describe good instructors as those who bring oxygen into a room. I love that phrase, and I believe it applies artists as well. When we make art, we bring oxygen into the room. We give people something true and beautiful to breathe in.

What if we stopped viewing creativity as something that takes away from our families and viewed it as something that breathes life into our families instead-through the meals we make, the pictures we take, the homes we decorate, the music we play, the stories we write, the gardens we grow?
What if, instead of deeming creativity as trivial or selfish, we viewed our personal creativity as a gift, an offering, a contribution capable of blessing everyone around us?”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“You have permission to pursue your creative gifts as a testament to who God created you to be. You have permission to make beautiful things in a broken world as a testament to God's grace mightily at work in you.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“God filled the world with good things and calls us to do the same-to showcase hope, light, beauty, and restoration as part of the ongoing process of God's glory infusing the earth.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“You are a beloved daughter of the Highest King, who gave His life so you could live. So you could rest. So you could be free from the desperate pursuit of trying to earn your keep in this world.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“We get to choose whether we dole out praise or intentionally withhold it. We get to choose whether we build one another up or break each other down, whether we root for or against our fellow moms, our fellow artists, our fellow Kingdom builders.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“This book is about looking for hope when we feel hopeless, searching for light when the day seems dark. This book is about paying attention to beauty and mercy and grace, and then sharing those gifts with the world through our words, our paintings, our music, our photographs.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“You desperately want all the right tools because you want to mother “the right way.” But motherhood is messy, and raw, and nuanced, and requires things a baby registry could never provide: surrender, and trust, and dependence on the Lord Almighty to fuel you with grace, with perseverance, with steadfast love, with a sacrificial willingness to get up the next morning with your eyes half shut and do it all over again.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“The enemy hisses imposter and fraud, but I beg you to listen to the louder voice who calls you by a different name.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“You have been appointed to steward all of it-these precious children under your care and this art burning a hole in your heart. There is no one better suited for this job, for this holy work, for this calling, than you.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“That’s all we can do, isn’t it? As mothers. As artists. We do the work. We ask for help. We show up and give God our best effort, our richest offering, hoping someday we meet our Maker and hear “She has done a beautiful thing. She has done what she could.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“The more we show up to our creativity, even when we don’t feel like it, the more we start to view all of life as a creative act.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“As a mother I want my kids to engage in creative acts, and not just when they’re little as a way to keep them occupied, or when they’re teenagers as a way to keep them out of trouble. Rather, I want my children to pursue creativity for their whole lives, for the sake of the sheer joy and reverence that accompanies co-creating with their Maker.

Like anything else, if we want to instill a love of creativity in our children for the long haul, we have to model what that looks like. We have to show our kids that grown-ups are creative, too.

That mothers are creative too.

You and I have been commissioned to create from the very start, by an infinitely creative God. Our permission has already been granted. We can stop waiting, hesitating, wondering if we are allowed to mother and create.

The answer is yes.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“At the root, my desire to feel ready is actually a desire to control the outcome.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“Could radical obedience be the middle place between perfection and good enough? Or perhaps not even a middle place, but a better way altogether?”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“At the core, making space for creativity traces back to permission, to the idea that feeding our souls is not a waste. Creativity is not a waste of time, or money, or resources. It’s not a waste of space in our schedules, our minds, our homes. If you view creativity as a selfish act, you will always struggle to justify making time for it. If you believe pursuing creativity is self-serving, it’s going to be the first thing you cut from your life in busy seasons.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“God doesn't waste mediocre moments. God doesn't waste pain or joy, failure or delight. He doesn't waste time, or chances, or opportunities to refine our hearts.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“If we want to create inspiring art, we have to consume inspiring art. We have to go where the light is, toward what is lovely, toward what makes us feel alive.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“We live in a culture obsessed with final products, but the middle matters greatly. The show up, the discipline, the putting your butt in the chair - this is where the magic happens. The more we show up to our creativity, even when we don't feel like it, the more we start to view all of life as a creative act.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

“The more we show up to our creativity, even when we don't feel like it, the more we start to view all of life as a creative act.”
― Ashlee Gadd, Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood