It's said that Thomas Edison came up with the formula, "Success is ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration."
According to a story in Mason Currey's book, Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, George Gershwin may have disagreed with the percentages, but certainly lived in accordance with the sentiment.
'To me George was a little sad all the time because he had this compulsion to work,' Ira Gershwin said of his brother. 'He never relaxed.' Indeed, Gershwin typically worked for twelve hours or more a day, beginning in the late morning and going until past midnight. He started the day with a breakfast of eggs, toast, coffee, and orange juice, then immediately began composing, sitting at the piano in his pajamas, bathrobe, and slippers. He would take breaks for a mid-afternoon lunch, a late-afternoon walk, and supper at about 8:00. If Gershwin had a party to attend in the evening, it was not unusual for him to return home after midnight and plunge back into work until dawn. He was dismissive of inspiration, saying that if he waited for the muse he would compose at most three songs a year. It was better to work every day. 'Like the pugilist,' Gershwin said, 'the songwriter must always keep in training.'
Truth is...If I waited until I FELT like writing for this blog, I would publish maybe three pieces a year. While that wouldn't be any great loss to the world at large, the sad corollary is that if I waited until I felt like being the hands and feet of Jesus - acting in love and sacrificing for the needs of others - the little corner of the cosmos in which I've been placed really WOULD be worse for wear.
Andrae Crouch said it in the song This Is Another Day: "Stop depending on your feelings and start trusting God's word."
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