Enough!
"When the goal becomes being liked, no amount of approval ever feels like enough. When the goal becomes a bigger platform, no platform ever feels big enough"
Excerpt From: Jennie Allen. “Nothing to Prove.” iBooks.
"I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that."
Galatians 2:20 MSG
I LOVE what I do. I love what music does for the soul, the way it breaks through language barriers, age barriers, disease barriers, and makes people move. However, the music industry itself is incredibly skilled at twisting and perverting what it was always created to do. Platforms... These Platforms, as Jennie Allen talks about in her book, (seriously go read it) that musicians crave and spend energy trying to reach are slippery. The goal shifts. It becomes a race to fame and "success". The goal to create something beautiful and touch hearts gets swallowed up by the world's standard of that illusive word. "Get noticed. Get signed. Get an army of adoring fans, Get recognition. Get the glory. Then you'll be happy", right? That voice is constantly blaring in our ears, and it is all too easy to get sucked into that mindset.
I don't want my motivations for making music to become about that life. Don't get me wrong! That stuff is niceee. It can feel amazing, but that feeling, like all feelings, fades. It's forgotten in the midst of the pursuit of the next flashy career checkpoint. No award is ever good enough. No amount of Spotify streams is ever satisfying enough. No amount of screaming fans, digits behind a dollar sign, or number 1 hits will EVER be enough.
Most of the time I feel like saying, "Enough is enough!" to that voice that will always try to distract my heart. It just comes with the job description, whether we like to admit that it's something we think about or not. It's also something I pray against every day for myself as well as the people and artists that I love. I believe the battle against it begins in knowing your identity.
I am totally guilty of forgetting that who I am is not based on my music, or the brand/image I create for myself!! I could lose my ability to do this tomorrow. That's true for every career!
So I'll finish by saying this. I am not Emily Curtis, the singer. I will daily fight to remind myself of this. Brace yourself! I'm about to slap you with the Word. My identity is found in the love and undeserved grace of Jesus Christ, and the life that I live in Him through His victory over death on the cross. So if you do not know me, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Emily Curtis, imperfect and beautifully flawed daughter of the King, and I would love to introduce you to Him!