With futility out of the way the sky is the limit all over again.

make an act of love for your craft. 

Where there is no love, put love, and there you will draw love out. 

Creativity can be brutal and the sense of futility can wear you down. Sometimes we have to labor at what we love rewarded only by the belief that doing so is good.

Sometimes you just can't feel the love, as the hackneyed saying goes. But there is a less tired saying, at least as true: "Where there is no love, put love, and there you will draw love out."

That was St. John of the Cross, the 16th century Spanish mystic. An accomplished poet, St. John is still considered one of the greats of the classical Spanish language. Safe to say he knew the trials of creativity.  

It takes a long time and a lot of discipline to distill your motivation for creativity down to the simple satisfaction your derive from it. The simple sense that doing it is good. So it's a real drag when that sense disappears. 

But it happens. 

The answer is to give something back. 

Make an act of love for your craft. Let it know you still believe in it and  remind yourself in the process. Artist? Teacher? Entrepreneur? Do something fresh and risky that goes beyond "the work." Attempt to write in a new style. Teach a new subject. Make a hire for talent rather than experience. 

Inspiration is just a connection to the perpetual newness of things. Sometimes we get disconnected. Where there is no love, put love. Take a chance on your craft. Put a little something on the line. Demonstrate the fact that you love your craft and the futility will flee. With futility out of the way the sky is the limit all over again. 

Ever forward.

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