The Thriving Christian Artist

Boundaries: The Secret to Creative Flow

• Matt Tommey: Artist, Best-Selling Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur and Artist Mentor

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Ready to transform your creative process? Discover the counterintuitive truth that boundaries—far from stifling your artistry—actually amplify and accelerate your creative anointing. As artists, we often resist structure, clinging to the romantic notion that true creativity requires absolute freedom. Yet this episode reveals how sacred guardrails around your creative practice can channel your artistic energy into its most powerful expression.

Matt Tommey draws from 30+ years of artistic experience and scriptural wisdom to explain how boundaries concentrate rather than constrain your creative potential. "If your creative calling was important enough for God to give it to you," he explains, "it's important enough for you to set boundaries around it." This perspective shifts boundaries from burdens to blessings—protecting spaces where your creative anointing can thrive.

You'll learn practical strategies for establishing three essential types of boundaries: time boundaries that protect dedicated creative hours, energy boundaries that recognize when your creative potential peaks, and content boundaries that prevent "creative dabbling" and develop artistic mastery. These aren't arbitrary restrictions but intentional decisions that honor the creative calling God has placed on your life.

The most fulfilled and effective seasons in your creative journey will come when you understand that, like a river needs banks to channel its power, your creativity needs boundaries to focus its impact. As Psalm 16:6 reminds us, "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places." Stop being an "every now and then" artist and start establishing the sacred guardrails that will amplify your creative anointing.

Ready to transform your creative practice? Purchase you Core4 Focus Planner at https://www.matttommeymentoring.com/core4 and join our global community of thriving Christian artists who are discovering the freedom that comes through focused, intentional creativity.

Find out more about The Created to Thrive Foundations Course 

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Speaker 1:

So what if I told you that the secret to unlocking your best creative flow is actually not more freedom, it's actually boundaries. You know, as a believer, we understand that our freedom comes in Christ, but it has to be stewarded well in our life. And that stewardship comes with boundaries and boundaries. For a lot of us artists, they can seem like shackles. They're actually what allows us to have safeguards in our life, to amplify the creative anointing on our life. We're going to dive into all of that and give you some practical steps on how you can start co-laboring with the Lord to amplify the creative anointing on your life.

Speaker 1:

Today, on the Thriving Christian Artist. All over the world, artists are awakening Painters and potters, writers and weavers, poets and dancers not chasing followers or fame, but sons and daughters called for such a time as this, transformed from the inside out, creating with purpose, releasing the glory of God and living in the power of the kingdom. Right now, this is the Thriving Christian Artist. Well, hey, my friends, super glad that you're back with me here on the channel, whether it is your first time, first time in a long time, or whether you're a regular listener or viewer, I'm really, really glad you're here. Make sure you hit the subscribe button so you never miss any of the great content that I'm putting out every week all about helping artists thrive in everything that God's called them to do.

Speaker 1:

Now, listen, I know today's subject may be something that you're like, matt. This does not seem like what we do as artists. You know, we're kind of taught as artists to go with the wind and go where inspiration takes us and live this life of freedom and everything. But I really want you to challenge this idea that maybe you've had in your life that somehow that boundaries are negative and that freedom just means that you're kind of flowing with the wind. A lot of times people think, as creatives we think that boundaries equal creative death. It's, you know, this idea of don't fence me in. I got to be who I am and do what I'm called to do, and I just want to flow with what the Holy Spirit's, you know, telling me to do. Listen, there's nothing wrong with that. But I want you to understand the other side of that, that true freedom is not the absence of limits or the absence of any boundaries in your life. It is actually the presence of the right ones. And when you learn what healthy boundaries are in your life and how to begin to steward the creative calling of God on your life. It actually amplifies and accelerate what God wants to do in and through your life.

Speaker 1:

As an artist, you know I always love to go back to scripture and everything that we talk about, and today I want to jump into 1 Corinthians, 10, 23,. And it says this everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible but not everything builds up. Listen, one of the things that we know in Christ is that we have freedom. Right when the spirit of the Lord is there is there's liberty, there's freedom.

Speaker 1:

But as children of God, as sons and daughters, we get a choice. God doesn't come down and just say, no, you have to do it this way and you have to do it that way, and here's the rules, and and follow the rules. No, he says, hey, here's a road over here, and here's a road over here. You can. You can take all of this, this incredible anointing that I've given you, creatively and artistically, and you can. You can steward it well, or you can just kind of do what you want to willy nilly, and both of those right, both of those have results in their life.

Speaker 1:

Now you may be saying, well, I don't want to be not stewarding what God has in my life, I want to, you know, be stewarding it well. Well, the only way that you know if you're stewarding it well or not is to actually look at the fruit of your life. Right and so if you took a minute right now, just you and the Lord, and you looked at your life and you looked at the creative gifting that he's given you, that he's invested in you since the day that you were born, if you were honest, would you say that you've been stewarding that well, or that you've just kind of been treating it hit and miss. You've just been what I call an ENT artist. Right, every now and then artist, you've just been kind of doing it when you felt like it. You've been letting it, you know, get pushed to the bottom of the pile of priorities.

Speaker 1:

You've heard me say many times on the podcast, on videos and books. I love to say that if your creative calling was important enough for God to give it to you, it's important enough for you to focus on. And I'll take that one step further today. I'll say if your creative calling was important enough for God to give it to you. It's important enough for you to set boundaries around it so that you can give the focus and the attention and the resources and the energies that it deserves. See boundaries the way God designs boundaries, the way God offers us to include boundaries in our life. They're for our good, right. They're designed to keep our creative focus and our creative passion and energy and resources pure and powerful and on purpose and working in a great way. Right. They're designed to keep us safe and not allow everything else to come in and water down and distract from the very things that God has given us to focus on in our life.

Speaker 1:

Listen, I don't know about you, but I realize my art and my creativity is a gift from God. You, but I realized my art and my creativity is a gift from God. When I do the creative things that God's created me to do, man, I'm a better person, I'm a better dad, I'm a better husband, I'm more able to sense his presence, I'm more able to see God move both in and through my life. And I can just tell you when I look back at my life, when my art was in a place of second, third, fourth place, when it always got pushed down to the bottom. Guess what also was true in my life? I wasn't as happy, I wasn't as fulfilled, I wasn't operating at the level that I know that God has for me in fulfillment and in focus and influence in my life. And why was that? Well, it's because I was letting everything else take front seat. I was letting everything else take center stage except for the thing that God gave me as my primary calling in life, which, for me and maybe for you, is your art.

Speaker 1:

Listen, art is a gift, and so, if it's a gift from God, it's so important for you to realize that you got to give that the time and energy and focus that it needs. You know, I like to think of our life, really, in our, you know, what we hold as people is kind of a container, right? God invests things in us. The Bible often talks about us as being jars of clay, right, ceramic pots, and that's a good thing, right? I've often thought about the creative flow of God coming into our life, coming into our container, almost like a river analogy. Right, I love thinking about a river, because a river carries life, it carries energy, it carries power, right, just like our creative anointing does.

Speaker 1:

But listen, a river without banks. Guess what it is? It's just a flood. And what happens with a flood? Well, a lot of times a flood is full of destruction. A lot of times a flood gets out of hand and a lot of times a flood just kind of seeps out everywhere. But when a river has banks, it has a focus, it has directions. Life can be there. You can harness that power. And the same thing is true in our spiritual life. When we bring again with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, when we bring boundaries to our life and we say these are the things I'm going to do, these are the things I'm not going to do, this is the way that I believe God's directing me to direct my creative anointing, my creative calling in my life. When we do that, listen, it amplifies the impact and the influence. When we don't, what does it do? It waters down, it spreads thin, it loses the impact and influence that God designed for that to have in our life.

Speaker 1:

I love that scripture in Proverbs 25, 28. It says like a city whose walls are broken, broken through, is a person who lacks self-control. In other words, if you don't have self-control in your life, if you're not discerning what you're going to give focus to what you're not going to allow to. You know, focus to go on what you're going to say yes to, what you're going to say no to. What happens is it's like a person whose walls, like a city whose walls have been broken down. What happens in that situation? Any old thing in the world can just come in there and ravage the city. And you know, I don't know if you ever thought about your life like that, but your life, you know, you're like a city and God's wanting your city to be teeming with life and with abundance and with joy and impact and influence.

Speaker 1:

But if there are no walls, that is, if you've not taken time to actually create walls around your city and say these are the things that are important that God's doing to me and I'm going to, I'm going to protect those things. I'm going to. I'm going to protect those things from from everybody else saying this is important and that's not important. I'm going to quit allowing everybody else's emergency to be my emergency. I'm going to quit doing everything that everybody else says is important in my life and I'm going to actually focus on the things that God says are important in my life and the age I'm in and the season that I'm in in my life, I'm going to protect the creative anointing. And guess what happens when you do that? It's like again, bring it, bring it, bringing banks to that river. All of a sudden, your river begins to flow, the anointing in your life begins to be focused and begins to be effective. And listen, I just believe that's the way God has designed for us to live. But that's again, just like everything in the kingdom You've heard me say this a million times this is one of those processes that God doesn't do to you, those processes that God doesn't do to you.

Speaker 1:

This is something that God does with you. That is, as you make a decision, as you take a step of faith toward God and toward his purposes and plans, respecting the creative anointing that's on your life. Guess what? God releases grace. God releases favor. God releases divine appointments in order to come and amplify the thing that he's already put in you.

Speaker 1:

Now you may be thinking well, what kind of boundaries do I need to put in my life? Maybe you're somebody listen, I was like this for a long time, so I get it. Maybe you're not somebody that's naturally leaning toward boundaries in your life. Maybe you're just a really free spirit, or maybe you let everybody else set boundaries in your life. Everybody else set their priorities in your life, so I want to talk about some of those.

Speaker 1:

Give you some practical things and one of the first boundaries I think that is really important for every creative person who's focusing on honoring this creative call in our life. It's about your time right, protecting the specific hours that you have in your day for creating, for resting, for connecting with God, for being with family, for doing things that bring you life. You know, the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3.1,. It says for everything there's a season and a time for every matter under heaven. Then let me ask you this Are you scheduling a time in your life every day to be creative? You may say, well, I don't have time, I can do all this other stuff.

Speaker 1:

Well, again, if your creative gifting is important enough for God to give it to you, is it not important enough for you to actually schedule some time Now? What does that mean? It absolutely means that if you're saying yes to your creativity, more than likely that's going to mean that you're going to be able to say no to some other things in your life You're not going to be able to just, oh, I can keep the grandkids anytime they come over, or I can volunteer at the church anytime they ask, or I can drop everything and go do this or go do that. No, you're going to focus intentionally on saying yes to the creative gifting that God's put in your heart. Now listen, I can already tell, and maybe put this in the comments if this is you, some of you are already saying well, that sounds really selfish.

Speaker 1:

I thought we were supposed to lay ourselves down for others and I thought we were supposed to put everybody else first. Listen, I really believe that as you do the thing that God's called you to do, he's going to give you plenty of opportunities to lay your life down, to impact and influence others, to let your life be a glowing example of his love and his kindness and his glory in the earth. But if you're allowing your life to just respond to everybody else's emergencies and you're ignoring the very thing that God's given you as a gift and as a calling and as a creative anointing in your life, you're missing, I believe, the vehicle that God's given you as a gift and as a calling and as a creative anointing in your life. You're missing, I believe, the vehicle that God's given you to experience and to transmit the abundant life that Jesus promised in John 10.10. And so scheduling your creative time on your calendar is, I believe, just one of the fundamental, basic things that every person who's creative needs to do. Because it's a marker, right, it's a marker in your schedule, it's a demonstration to everybody else that, hey, this thing that God's called me to do, it's important and it's important enough to find itself just like a meeting, just like lunch with a friend, just like a meeting at the church, just like a business meeting. Your creative time is important enough and you need to prioritize it on your calendar, all right.

Speaker 1:

Number two I would say is this idea of energy boundaries. I'm 51. I'll be 52 later on, just a couple of months this year, and I don't know about you. But energy levels change, right, as you get older. I've realized over the years that I'm most energetic creatively in the mornings. Right, I get up 536 in the morning, I do 30 minutes of drinking my coffee and then usually I'm out the door on my walk, my prayer time with the Lord. I take some time journaling all that and usually, about eight o'clock I end up in the studio from about eight o'clock to about one o'clock in the afternoon. That's when I usually, you know, kind of stop for lunch or whatever. That's my most creative time. And I've just learned for me maybe different for you, but for me that's when my energy is the highest, when I'm able to most focus, when I'm able to most give my best to my art. So I've just kind of learned in my life as an artist if I'm going to do creative things, be in the studio, whether I'm writing, whether I'm creating art I've got a show coming up or whatever it is I'm going to do it in those times.

Speaker 1:

So I guard that time. I don't schedule meetings during those times, so I guard that time. I don't schedule meetings during those times. I don't let anybody just walk in during those times. I don't take phone calls during those times. I'm not answering a lot of emails or being on social media during those times. Why? Because I'm protecting this place of creativity and creative energy that I have. I'm protecting it like a treasure. Why? Because I know that for me, in the season of life I'm in, that's the place that I'm most focused and I'm most available to be most effective in my life.

Speaker 1:

Now think about that for you. Maybe put that in the comments If you're watching over on YouTube. What is that time for you that you're most effective? All right, also, think about what's the time that maybe you need to be on in other areas of your life. You know, maybe you're a mom, maybe you're a dad, you're, you're at work, maybe you're working a full-time job. You come home all day. When you get home, I mean you're on with the kids or you're on with the family, but later at night, or maybe on the weekends or in other times, maybe you've got pockets that you say, hey, these are the times I can be creative, but these other times are still great times. Right, it's great to be a mom and dad, it's great to be, you know, doing things at church and with friends and all that.

Speaker 1:

So, respecting your energetic boundaries, respecting and really delineating hey, my creativity is important, can't be everything in my life, but it needs its own place, just like family needs its place, just like my business needs its place or whatever. You learn to make a place for everything that you're doing in your life, and I've just learned again back to this idea of creative energy. I just have learned to guard it like a treasure, because that, to me, that's where all the ideas are flowing out of my heart, that's where I can see easier, where, artistically, that's where I can hear the Lord artistically is in that place where my heart is really engaged. You know, I love it in Proverbs 4.23. It says, above all else, guard your what your heart. Why? Because out of it flows the issues of life. Or you may hear other versions that say everything you do flows from your heart.

Speaker 1:

And so, from a creative energy standpoint, I think you got to be really on purpose about that. When is the creative flow from your heart happening, and how can you make that a priority in your life? And so I would encourage you to maybe just sit down for a second, even as, after you're watching this today, you're listening to this today. Sit down and just say you know when am I as I look over my life, I look over my, you know my season of life right now. When is the time that I've got the most creative energy? And put that on a schedule. Give yourself permission to do that thing.

Speaker 1:

Other thing I would say is this also look at, are there things that I'm allowing in my creative energy, time in my creative, my best creative time that are actually draining me. All right, and start to set some limits around that. Maybe there are things that you still got to do, but maybe you put them at a time of the week or a time of the day that doesn't interfere with your best creative time. And then a third kind of boundary I would say are content boundaries. Listen, as artists, as creative people, most of us are talented enough that we could probably do just about anything we put our mind to right.

Speaker 1:

And just because you can do something, or just because something strikes your fancy or gets you interested, doesn't necessarily mean that it's God's assignment for you creatively in this season of life. And so I think it's really, really important that, as creatives, we keep an ear to the Lord and we keep an ear toward recognizing what it is that we're supposed to be focusing on right now in our artistic pursuit and don't be allowing don't allow yourself to just go in a bunch of different directions. What I mean is this I talk about this so many times in the mentoring program maturing as an artist, I believe, is about finding creative focus. That is a lot of times. We want to be creative dabblers, right, we want to just do this and do that. In fact, if you're a dabbler, put it in the comments I'm a dabbler or I'm a recovering dabbler.

Speaker 1:

But when you let yourself just creatively dabble all the time, you get a mile wide and an inch deep, right. You never allow yourself to really develop the artistic mastery that it takes for unique voice and your uniqueness as an art to come forth. And so I think part of setting boundaries in your life is learning to say you know what? I could do a bunch of things creatively, but this is what I really love, this is where I've really got the most opportunity, this is where I feel you know the presence of God. On. This is what I see resonating in the marketplace, if you're selling your work and giving yourself the permission to really focus on those things and not allowing yourself to just be going here and yon all the time and again allowing yourself to be a mile wide in an inch deep.

Speaker 1:

I love Philippians 4, 8. It says finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, think on these things Again, what Think on the things that keep you aligned with God's very best for your life, and so I think one of the things you could do practically in this, in your time, as you're thinking about, you know, boundaries today. Think about creative boundaries. What is it in this season that God's got his hand on right? What is it that you feel? The whoosh of the right? What is it that you feel the whoosh of the spirit? What is it that you're feeling led in creatively?

Speaker 1:

And I want to, I want to encourage you don't be afraid to say no to some good things in order to be able to say yes to the best things that God is wanting to bring into your life. Well, listen, when you begin to do this with your time and your space and your creative focus and with your relationships, all of a sudden you start realizing that boundaries don't cage you in. They actually concentrate you. Boundaries are there to protect you. Boundaries are there to keep all the distractions that are trying to derail you out, so that what you can give your best focus, your best energy, your best creativity to the things that actually matter in your life.

Speaker 1:

Listen, I've been mentoring artists for a lot of years now and I mentor them in the areas like this, and I do it not only from God's word, but also from real experience in my life, and I can just tell you in my life of being an artist for over 30 years, the moments that, and the seasons of life that I will create boundaries and cultivate those boundaries as habits in my life, those are the seasons that I'm most fulfilled, that I'm most effective, that God uses me in the most influence and impact. And the seasons that I don't do that, the seasons where I just kind of let everything go to the wind, those are the seasons where I'm most frustrated, where I'm most ineffective and where I feel most frustrated in my life. And so protective seasons, protecting your creative space, protecting your creative mindset, your creative energy all of that it leads to a deeper intimacy with the Lord, it leads to deeper clarity and flow in your life and I believe it gives you deeper opportunity to engage with the Holy Spirit really is saying in your life again, as opposed to just being being drifted around and float around um by every, every passing wind and every passing whimsy that comes along. So listen, I want you to really start getting into this today and just really receive this idea that your mindset about boundaries has got to shift. All right, remember we change in our life, not because you know, we just make ourself do it. Everything that changes externally in your life happens because your internal self changes right, and so your external actions only change when there's a mindset change right, when you renew your mind to a different truth. I want you to just begin to ask the Lord about this today. And so I want you to just begin to ask the Lord about this today. Lord, begin to change my heart, to realize that boundaries are a blessing, not a burden. Right, in fact, you can begin to just say that, lord, thank you today.

Speaker 1:

That, as Matt's teaching this, I just I realize now, I realize from your word, I realize from what Matt's saying today, that boundaries that you're calling me to put in my life, they're not a barrier to me, they're not a burden, they're not something that's trying to hold me back, they're a blessing, they're actually what wants to bring me in to the fullness of what you got for me as an artist. And again, psalm 16, six. You know what it says the boundary lines, the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Surely I have a delightful inheritance, in other words, what your inheritance, that God has for you. It comes when you understand how to stay within the boundaries that you set with the Lord the boundaries of your calling, the boundaries of your season, the boundaries of what you're willing to give your time, energy and focus and resources to in your life.

Speaker 1:

So three things you can do today. Number one, I would say pray for clarity about the boundaries that God's inviting you to establish. Number two pick one area. If you know you can't do all of everything at once, but pick one area the time boundaries, energy boundaries, content boundaries right, the things that that you're focused on artistically and just set one clear boundary in your life this week. Maybe it's just, maybe it's just starting with putting some some creative time on on your schedule, all right. And then, number three, I would say this stay accountable, share your boundary. Maybe you share it in the comments right here. Uh, if you're watching on YouTube, just share whatever that boundary is, just as a kind of a prophetic declaration to say, hey, I'm going to do this this week. This is just not something where I'm going to let this be in one ear and out the other. I'm actually going to do this. I'm going to set a boundary. Maybe share it with a trusted friend or a mentor. If you're in the mentoring program or in our foundations course, share it in in the Facebook group with us and let us know that you're setting a boundary in your life. And listen, I would just say this if you're looking for something that help you actually get into a rhythm of boundaries in your life, in a rhythm of creativity that honors the Lord and the season of life that you're in, I want to really encourage you to get our Core 4 Focus Planner.

Speaker 1:

The reason I developed this is because the Core 4, which is a framework that I developed, that I've taught in the mentoring program for years it is a daily rhythm that we use as artists to keep us focused on what God says is important in our life. And the core four is just simply this connect, clarify, create and cultivate. That is, connect with the Lord every day. Understand what he's got for you, clarify that is what he's got for you that day, what you're focused on. Number three spend time creating in the studio every day. And then, number four cultivate relationships with the people that matter, that is, your buyers. Cultivate relationships with the people that matter, that is, your buyers, your prospects, your fans and followers, other artists. When you do this using the core four focus framework and the planner.

Speaker 1:

Every day, we literally give you the opportunity to plan your year with the Lord. We do a week in review. I'll just show you what it looks like every day. Every day you come in, there's a scripture or a quote inspiration up here. You just write down what's God saying? What are you focused on for the day? What are you focused on in the studio? Who are you cultivating with? You do that as a rhythm every day over 90 days. And listen, what happens is you start accomplishing more. You start feeling connected to theishing more, you start feeling connected to the Lord more. You start actually being in the studio more, not because you're Superman or superwoman, but just because you're setting clear boundaries in your life.

Speaker 1:

Listen, I wish it. I wish for all of us that this would just happen on autopilot. It just doesn't, and that's why I created the core four focus planner for you to be able to, to actually have a simple planner. We've got them in spiral, bound and hard bound. Our view to have every day just to inspire you and keep you focused on the things that are most important in your life, so you can honor the creative calling that God's got in your life.

Speaker 1:

Hey, let me pray as we go today and um to hear in the comments what God's saying to you about this whole topic of protecting your creative energy and setting boundaries in your life. So, jesus, thank you. God, thank you that you give us the choice and the grace to be able to set boundaries in our life with you so that we can focus on the things that you have for us, creatively and artistically, in this season of our life. God, thank you that when we do that, when we're faithful to draw the boundary lines in alignment with who you've created us to be and what you've called us to do in the season of life that we're in, god, thank you that your grace is released. Thank you that you amplify and accelerate our efforts. Lord, you multiply things so far beyond what we could ever do by ourself when we cooperate with you and create boundaries in our life that honor your calling on our life as creatives. God, give us grace to do that. Lead us and guide us. Today, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 1:

Hey, my friend, listen, I love you. Thank you for being here every week with me on the Thriving Christian. Pick up a copy of the core for focus planner. The link is right here, uh, in the description in the show notes. You can grab that. You can also become a part of our foundations course, our mentoring program uh, see all the different resources that we have over at matt tommy mentoringcom, and I hope that you'll stay connected with us and be a part of this global army of artists that God's raising up all over the world.

Speaker 1:

I love you, friend. Thanks for being with me. Until next time, remember, and practical tips to help you thrive in everything that God's called you to do as an artist in his kingdom. Every issue is absolutely free and it includes the latest podcast episode, featured artist spotlights, a worship song of the week and, again, tons of tips and encouragement and inspiration for you to keep you inspired and encouraged in everything that God's got for you as an artist in the kingdom. You can click the link right here in the show notes to join us, and it's a great way to stay connected. All right, love you, bye.