Read Read Read

I hate reading. Well, I used to hate it. Ever since I was a kid, my parents made me do those summer reading list things. And the selection of novels were terrible. I hated every book I picked up. To me, the stories were never interesting. I don't remember exactly what made them unappealing. Of course, there were a few exceptions. I thoroughly enjoyed A Series of Unfortunate Events. And you can maybe include some school assigned readings such as Huckleberry Finn, Lord of the Flies, and To Kill a Mockingbird. But I just thought that books, in general, were stupid and useless.

"Well -- young Justin --  I will finally admit that I enjoy reading. So go read and be cultured. Stop wasting time doing nothing."

I'm trying to read a lot before I start my internship at EY. It'll be the "busy season" which means working overtime every week. Which means less leisure time. Which means less reading time. Which means -- you get the point.

I just finished reading The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. It's a solid book. And I am now more educated about the history of football -- YEAH SPORTS. And now, I've moved onto The Artisan Soul by Erwin Raphael McManus. Shoutout to Joe Hur for the reference.

I just started the book, and it has already addressed so many thoughts I had in my head. If you remember my last post, I talked about being stuck in two worlds. I want to be creative. But being an accountant isn't the most creative profession out there. This book makes a unique statement about creativity and art.

I, like many of us, think that there are two types of people. (1) There are the "creative thinkers", and (2) there are the "unoriginal workers". For example, we all know that person who is really artsy. They just know how to make something more beautiful -- music, drawings, pictures, etc. Then there's us: #basic. The artists are those who make GREAT things while we make, at best, GOOD things.

By the way, I think we can all agree that there's this scale that great > good. "Great work" is better than "good work". Weird thing huh.

Since we'll never be able to do something original or great, we should just forget about being creative and go do something practical. That's the common belief we all have and the thing we're taught from society -- if you can't be GREAT, then forget about it.

But McManus thinks otherwise. Let's bring it back to Genesis 1. When God created each thing, He saw that it was GOOD. It doesn't say GREAT, it says GOOD. And when God created us in His image, He saw that it was VERY GOOD -- still not GREAT. So why do we think that our work must be GREAT in order to be acceptable? God's work was good because He is good.

"Great is about execution and achievement; good is about essence and ethos" - Erwin Raphael McManus

We tend to focus on GREAT rather than GOOD because we want acknowledgement. We want fame, status, recognition. But what does God do? He focused on what is GOOD. He focuses on the essence of who He is and the essence of what is inherent in his work. Shouldn't we do the same? If we are created in His image, then we are to imitate Him -- who is Christ. You don't have to do great things to be an artist. It's about your intention and the purpose you put behind your work. You don't need recognition from others. You just need recognition from Him.

I'm going to stretch this a bit farther and make this argument. Why strive to achieve something great when the greatest thing has already been given to us? We have everything in Christ. We are seated in the highest position possible -- next to the right hand of God in Christ. So let's focus on creating the essence of who made us in His image -- goodness.

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