The Danger of Not Doing What You Love
June 13, 2010 · 0 Comments
By: Jim Mathis
I want to tell you about a man I knew, someone I called “Bob the Painter.” Bob loved to go to art museums, so he decided he would become a painter. He studied the art of the old masters and began learning to copy their work, brushstroke by brushstroke. He learned about colors and textures and eventually became a very skilled painter.
His favorite artist was Vincent Van Gogh, so he decided that he would duplicate all of Van Gogh’s paintings. He became very good at copying Van Gogh’s works and eventually could make exact replicas of the famed artist’s paintings without even looking at the originals.
Bob entered his paintings in an art fair, but the judges just laughed and said, “These are just copies of Van Gogh. These have already been done.” Bob was saddened by the criticism, but attended the art fair anyway. There he found many kinds of inspiring new paintings, unlike anything he had seen in the museums. He found wonderful new artwork around every corner.
Then Bob sat down to think while listening to bands that were providing entertainment for the art fair. The first band played some familiar songs he had heard on the radio many times. Then the headline band got up to play. They looked and sounded just like his favorite band from 1964, and the band played many of the original group’s great songs that had been recorded from 1964 to 1968. In fact, the band at the art fair sounded identical to the original band.
Bob discovered this band had been paid hundreds of dollars to sound like the old band, while the painters and other artists had been required to pay hundreds of dollars to display their new and innovative works. He became very confused, wondering why it was acceptable to replicate one form of art while it was deemed totally unacceptable to copy art in another genre.
Eventually, in discouragement, Bob decided to forsake his artistic dreams and become an accountant where, as they say, cents makes sense. He no longer had to decide whether to copy the work of the old masters or make new art. Bob died that day – even though he was not buried until 54 years later.
My point is not to debate why copying performed music is acceptable, while replicating paintings is not. The “moral of this story” is that Bob let his dream die; he abandoned what he loved – perhaps what God had called him to do – to take a safer, more predictable course that no one would criticize.
If Bob had discovered that accounting was his passion, his decision would have been a good one. But because he bowed to formidable obstacles, his artistic aspirations – and perhaps great potential – were never realized. Having proved adept at copying the work of old masters, Bob might have discovered his own style and become a modern-day Renoir or Gauguin. We will never know.
What about you – are you pursuing your passion, that life dream that makes you want to leap out of bed each morning ready to embrace the opportunities it presents? Or are you mired in a job you find far from satisfying? The Bible teaches, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). It is much easier to do that when you are doing the things you love.
Until next week!
Jim Mathis is the owner of a photography studio in Overland Park, Kansas, specializing in executive, commercial and theatrical portraits. He formerly was a coffee shop manager and executive director of CBMC in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri.
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