Sarah Jane Wright: The Messiness of Creativity

Morgan Jones Pearson

Sarah Jane Wright believes a few things very deeply. God wants us to be creators, not passive observers. And God will ask us to partner with Jesus Christ to create something incredible. But how do we embrace this innate creativity and how do we help our children do the same? Sarah Jane Wright is an illustrator, author, fabric designer, teacher and mother of four children. Her brand Sarah Jane Studios has produced products for children including fabric wallpaper, art, print, stationery, crafts and party goods. Along with her husband, Kenneth, she has created hundreds of creative art lessons, activities, and creative projects for children to encourage more creative time at home. She has published several children's books most recently the Lola Dutch picture book series and More Than Just A Star. She currently lives in Connecticut. This is All In, an LDS Living podcasts, where we ask the question, what does it really mean to be all in the gospel of Jesus Christ? I'm Morgan Pearson. And I am so excited to have my friend Sarah Jane, right on the line with me today. Sarah, welcome.

Sarah Jane Wright

Well, I'm so glad to be here. Thank you so much, Morgan.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Well I told you this Sarah, in our emails planning this episode, but I for a long time have admired both you and your husband, the first time I met you, it was with your husband. And I just think that it's so cool that you both are so creative. You're involved with the arts, and you do a lot creatively together. So I wondered, what is it like to have a marriage where both of you are very creatively minded?

Sarah Jane Wright

Oh, I love this question. You know, I honestly don't think I've ever been asked this question. But you know, I think it's a lot of fun. Let's just start with that. I mean, we both come from a pretty creative background, we met majoring in musical theater, actually at BYU. And so we come from a background of the arts. And for that reason, we've had a lot of experiences in the arts together. And I think it means that we have come to cultivate within our marriage how to solve problems creatively. And ultimately, you know, we have a lot of fun, we've done a lot of things, but I have really drawn strength from our background and creativity, because ultimately, I think it has helped our marriage thrive and we've been able to apply the lessons to our marriage. That was, that was a really lame answer.

Morgan Jones Pearson

No, no, no, no, I'm actually I'm curious. I'm gonna ask you a follow up on that. So what do you feel like is one example of a lesson that you've learned from creativity that you then apply to your marriage,

Sarah Jane Wright

I ultimately believe that creativity lies so much in our ability to solve problems, like creativity is really just taking one thing and another thing and putting it together to make a new thing. And so ultimately, we use our creative abilities. And creativity isn't just the arts. So we'll just kind of clear the ground right there. Creativity is really anytime that we're using our mind or imagination or our abilities to make something, to put something out in the world to move forward with something. And ultimately, that looks like problem solving. You're just solving a lot of problems. To illustrate, I mean, just something as simple as should I paint the pumpkin orange? Or should I paint the pumpkin red? I mean, you're constantly just making decisions. And in marriage, you're constantly having to make decisions together. And so I think because we both have the experience of creatively working on projects creatively solving problems in our marriage, I ultimately think that that's been our approach, that it's not my idea, whose idea is how can both of our ideas work together? And how can we have a synergistic approach to this issue or this problem? And so, ultimately, I'm so grateful for our creative background for the lessons that it's taught us and how to work together, and to creatively come up with solutions in our marriage and in our family.

Morgan Jones Pearson

See, that was such a good answer. So get out of here with that. Okay, so I am curious now, because I didn't I didn't even realize that you were a musical theater major. So that's pretty significant. When did you first discover then that you had this talent for illustration?

Sarah Jane Wright

You know, I think when it comes to illustration and art, I'll be honest, like my very first memories, like you know, we all have kind of our first memories of childhood. My very first memories involve color and really just being stirred by the color of the ocean actually was my first memory at like the age of two. And I honestly don't have any memories of my childhood without having like a pencil in my hand or a crayon. My mom still has a picture that she saved of a stick figure that I drew at two and a half and two and a half is pretty young for drawing a stick figure. There's a lot of talent that comes from developing and curating and gaining skills. And then I think there are some talents that we come with from our heavenly home. And that is one of the talents that I for sure came with, and has helped ultimately shaped my view of the world. So it's how I see the world. It's how I view so many things.

Morgan Jones Pearson

So you said in in something that I read that you had a rich sense from the time you were really young of what you wanted to do with your life? Is that because you recognize these talents and gifts that you have, and how do you think that you knew that on such a deep level? Because I think a lot of us have, like talents that we can recognize and be like, yeah, yeah, like, I'm good at that. But if you asked me at a young age what do you want to do? Well, I think I'm good at basketball. I don't do that anymore. You know, so how do you feel like you recognized on such a deep level what you wanted to do with your life?

Sarah Jane Wright

Oh, I love that question so much. And you're exactly right. Some of those things we kind of instinctively know. And some of those things we discover so much later, I think of a particular experience, I was in fifth grade, and at the time, how old are you in fifth grade, like 10 or 11, something like that. And I remember feeling incredibly lonely. I didn't feel like I had a lot of friends. I was at that age where friends were important. But I didn't really know if I fit in or not. And I was asking myself all these questions and felt incredibly insecure. And I had this book, I think it was my mom, she had an amazing children's book library. And I pulled this book off the shelf. And the book was called "Friends." And all it was really sweet pictures of how to make a friend and how to be a friend. And I remember thinking, wow, if somebody can draw pictures, and write words that make me feel better and more comforted, I want to do that too. Reading this book and seeing these pictures, like all of a sudden, I was like, Wait, I don't have to feel lonely. I don't have to wait for friends, I can go be a friend, I can go make a friend. And I remember thinking that's somebody's job that they can actually do that and put those things in the world and make someone like me have a different perspective on my life. Ultimately, I think it really came from that place of thinking, "Wow, I could maybe contribute in that way."

Morgan Jones Pearson

That is such a such a great answer. And I think, first of all, you just saying like being a 10 year old and describing those feelings. It's like, I think every 10 year old girl at least felt that. But also I think, you know, I can look back and see. So I said basketball. But as you were talking, I started thinking, you know, a lot of what I've done professionally is because I grew up in a part of the country where there weren't a lot of members of the Church. And I had this like really strong desire to feel connected to my faith. And I remember like, the Friend magazine would help me feel that and so I think like, oh, man, if I could just help people feel connected, so they feel less alone wherever they live, that would be so cool. And so it's cool to think about that and how there are like little seeds sown even if maybe it isn't like a very clear prompting of this is exactly what you want to do. So, Sarah, you initially started your career as an artist as a way to support your husband through school. And if I'm right, your husband is still in school, right?

Sarah Jane Wright

Yeah, he this. I started my career 15 years ago when he started his master's degree, and swore he would never get a doctorate. And here we are 15 years later, and he's halfway through his doctorate. So yes, he is currently in school again. But that is when I decided to start.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Okay, and what have you learned because your intention, right, was just to do it to kind of short term. But you said, you learned that the Lord has different plans for us sometimes than what we initially set out to do. So what have you learned about that, about how sometimes the Lord's plans for us are different than the plans that we have for ourselves?

Sarah Jane Wright

Oh, man, how much time do you have Morgan?

Morgan Jones Pearson

I got time.

Sarah Jane Wright

I think that's the golden question. I could speak to this on so many levels. I don't think I even had an expectation of it being short term. I had no expectations. My expectation really stemmed from the fact that at that point, I was teaching voice lessons professionally in my home and at BYU and I had two kids, I had a two year old and a one year old. And I knew I couldn't continue to teach voice and have my kids at home. It was just getting really tricky with babysitters and the space we had was really small. And ultimately, I just really felt the spirit guide me and say okay, now it's time to start your art. I mentioned before, being an artist, a visual artist was something that I always had, throughout my whole childhood and music and theater has been a beautiful part of my life. And I knew it wasn't going to be something that I would do forever. I knew that I couldn't be the kind of mom I wanted to be, and, you know, be on the stage. So I felt like this incredible door opened up that now that my husband was in school, and I had a little bit less support in that way I could, I don't know, see what I could make of my talent and the arts. And I was so naive and so eager, at the same time, it was a really great combination. My expectation was, can I just make enough money on the side to make it so that the time that my husband is spending in school I can compensate for? Well, it really just took off. And it was a lot more than I was ready for. And that has been an incredible journey.

Morgan Jones Pearson

So cool. Well, you have worked on all kinds of cool stuff. I told you this and I'm gonna tell everybody, my niece, I bought her your virtual art classes for Christmas. I think it's when you had them on sale. And I was like, oh, she'd like that. And anyway, she was obsessed, and I won best aunt award, at least for that Christmas. But she's also a huge fan of Lola Dutch, which is probably I feel like what you're best known for, at least nationally. Tell me a little bit about how Lola Dutch came to be? Because it's so darling.

Sarah Jane Wright

Oh thank you so much. There's a few. There's a few ways that I could share. And I think I'm going to start with this. So I mentioned before that my husband and I both came from creative backgrounds, we both had really creative childhoods, and we truly valued this skill. And I think creativity really, ultimately is a skill. It's something that you use and develop and children have naturally right? Like every kid is like, oh, I want to make this. And I mean, they're making messes, like the fact that they're making messes. That's, you know, make they're creating. And I noticed as our kids got a little older, that that buzz, that fire to create kind of starts to go away as they become more aware of themselves. And maybe they feel insecure about oh, my drawing isn't as good as this kid's drawing, they start to compare, and then that makes them feel afraid. And they hold back. My husband is a school teacher. He's taught school for 17 years. And he's getting his PhD actually in education with an emphasis on a little bit on creativity, actually. So as parents, we recognize this incredible need for kids to be championed in their creativity. Like we wanted them to feel that creativity didn't have to die when they got older that as they as they engaged in their imagination and creativity, they would actually feel more confident and have more opportunities. I'll speak to another experience. When my kids were little I remember having a playdate with another mom. And I walked into her cute apartment and I was like, Oh, wow, her apartment is so much cleaner than mine and so much cuter. And I was feeling all those like new mom feelings that you have, right? It was so interesting. We were letting the kids play. And she and I were just talking but I noticed that the kids were like smashing their noses against the window and saying, Oh, wow, look at that hot air balloon and they were being silly and, and she said, Oh, don't touch the windows, I just cleaned them. And then they were jumping on the couch to pretend like they were flying because they saw those hot air balloons. She said oh don't jump on the couch. I just vacuumed it. And it was kind of experience after experience, the kids actually started to get bored. And they started to complain and kind of sulk. And I just noticed the light kind of just go out of their eyes. And I I love this playdate going wow, maybe it's a good thing that my house is a little messier because my kids are having these happy, creative experiences where they have permission to explore, they have permission to try and fail and create and I wanted from the very beginning and my husband and I would have discussions we wanted to create an environment in our home where our kids felt like they had permission to explore and create. And that meant that I had to maybe create an environment where that can happen. And that that doesn't always look like the perfectly you know, Pinterest worthy family room. The thing though, we found ourselves saying at the end of the day where there were, you know, cardboard forts and paint left on the table and the remnants of maybe some imagination game at the end of the day. I remember my husband, I would just flop on the couch and just say, Oh, this is just so much. We'd say that phrase to ourselves. Because as much as we loved the fun, creative, imaginative part of our children's childhood is a lot of work. So we also wanted to write a book in which we address the fact that you know what? Creativity is a little messy and it takes a lot but when you make space for it, children thrive.

Morgan Jones Pearson

That's so, so interesting. And I loved where you took that answer because as soon as you started talking, I was like, I want to ask her how you cultivate creativity for little ones. And I feel like you answered that. So thank you so much. I am wondering because when I read Lola Dutch, I'm like, this character is so adorable. What do you think it is that makes a fictional character endearing?

Sarah Jane Wright

Oh, wow. I think that's the golden question of any author, illustrator. I think ultimately, it has to come from a place of truth, it has to come from a place of honesty, from my own experience. So I can't create a compelling fictional character unless I myself has experienced some of the things that she or he is experiencing in the story. So I think what creates a compelling character requires me to bring my own experience to this character. When people ask, who is Lola Dutch? Or do you see yourself in Lola Dutch? She's exactly who I was. And she's also part of my husband was and is. And so there's a lot of her in me. And I think that hopefully is what makes her compelling. But any character, I think has to come from a place of lived experience.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Well, I think the cool thing about what you just said is, if there's a piece of you and a piece of your husband, there's probably a piece of a lot of people in that character. Sarah, what have you learned from creating your work and putting it out into the world about why God has given us the ability to create?

Sarah Jane Wright

So I have been thinking about this question since you sent it last night. And I have a couple of novels worth of things we could talk about. So I think I'll I'll just dive in. Why has God given us this ability to create? The answer, I think stems from understanding a lot about who God is. God is ultimately a creator. And He is the Creator. And He wants us to become like Him. He wants us to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. And I feel so blessed that it just so happens that my work and my talents involve the creative arts, because I feel like for me, every day I'm engaging in a work that ultimately God is engaging in every single day, which is the work of creation. And so in order to become like Him, we actually have to learn how to be creators as well. And that's not limited to the arts, as you well know, we're all intended to create. And so He gives us these opportunities. And if we choose to take them, we can learn to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Ultimate Creator. When we really look and ask ourselves, are we willing to become like our Savior, Jesus Christ? I think we're also asking the question, am I willing to learn how to create a life with God? Am I willing to be a creator? And that takes an incredible amount of faith, which is the exact reason why we're here. So I think He gives us the ability to create because it ultimately puts us in a position to act in faith. It puts us in a position to act and not be acted upon. And so this very idea of why does He give us the ability to create, whether it's create children, or create a career or create a family or create a Sunday School lesson, like anything that we choose to do, ultimately, is our choice of creation. And so we can, like, passively let life go by or we can actively create. And ultimately, that is His mission, right, too. And that's His work, to let us learn for ourselves what that means.

Morgan Jones Pearson

So I wonder for you, Sarah, what does expressing that willingness? Like, what does that look like? Because I think a lot of us can hear that and think, Oh, well, I want to be engaged in that work with God. But almost like I don't even know where to start. You know, so for you, what does expressing that willingness and showing that willingness, what does that look like in practice?

Sarah Jane Wright

Well, in practice, I'll just have to say this, a lot of times, it just looks really messy. Because there isn't a linear like there's no step by step linear formula. It looks like having a relationship with God. And so I think for me, every part of my career, every journey or project that I've been a part of, in my work, I'll just stick to that, ultimately has been kind of this tandem relationship of okay, here's an idea I have. Here's something that I really would love to put out in the world, but ultimately, Heavenly Father, you know where this can go and you know, what ultimately can come of this. So I'm going to trust you in this process. And sometimes that's look like things happening really fast and successfully. But I would say most of the time, it actually looks like a lot of failures, like, it looks like a lot of trying, a lot of falling and stumbling, and coming up again. And so it's this real incredible give and take. And it's, in my experience, an incredibly sacred experience, because my will and His will is something that ultimately, is shaping who I'm becoming. And it's a process like it's ultimately a process. So what does that look like every day? I mean, it looks like hitting my desk and saying a prayer and saying, Okay, I'm gonna give this my best shot. And in the absence of inspiration, I'm just gonna run with this. And when inspiration comes, I'm going to trust that you know better than I do.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Well, I think the thing that's so interesting about that is you were talking earlier about how with kids creativity involves messiness. And it's interesting to think that in our lives, there's that parallel as well, that as we get older, seeking to create doesn't get any less messy, that messiness may look different. But it is the same in many ways. And I think that's an important thing to recognize. And remember, speaking of messiness, in the midst of all of this creativity, and all of the exciting things that you've been able to be a part of and do over the last 14 years, your family has also faced some health challenges, especially in the last couple of years. I wondered, what did you find to be helpful during that time? And how do you feel like you're stronger as a result of those hard things that you've been through?

Sarah Jane Wright

That is such a great question. Because I think whether it's health challenges or any other limitation, I think it's really easy to say, Okay, Father, you've put me in this path, we're on this journey. And now all of a sudden, I have all these limitations. It's so easy to just say, wait a minute, you told me to do this, or you guided me towards this particular thing? Why am I all the sudden having so many hiccups? Or why is it all the sudden, so hard? Or why am I having all these limitations? When I was 13, or for around 13 or 14, I was diagnosed with a chronic condition that was pretty minor. But at the time, you know, when you're 13, you're like, Oh, my life is over. You know, I was playing basketball for word basketball, and I was on dancing, and my school plays, and my body wasn't able to do any of those things. And I had a blessing for my bishop and my dad. And he ultimately said, in the blessing, your body is meant to have limitations. And you're here to experience the limitations of your body as well as the abilities that your body has. And I remember thinking at that young age, like, wait, that's not what I want to hear. I don't want to hear that I have limitations. I have this whole life ahead of me, I want to do so many amazing things. And I've come to realize, though, you know, a few decades later, that we say this phrase all the time in the arts, creativity thrives on limitations, and why is that? Creativity thrives on limitations, because when you have limitations, all of a sudden, you don't have everything at your fingertips, you can't do it all on your own, you need a Savior. And ultimately, my power to create and my ability to create is going to come from Jesus Christ. And it already I mean, it does come from Jesus Christ. So whether it's health limitations, financial limitations, social limitations, I mean, you name it, emotional, mental. It's giving me an opportunity to rely more upon the Lord, which ultimately is gonna give me more ability to create and more power to do his work. So that's a lot easier said than done. I'm saying this in 2020 hindsight. But when you're in the middle of it, it can feel like the Lord is closing a door. But ultimately, He's giving me an opportunity to see how it can be done in His way, which is always so much better.

Morgan Jones Pearson

You're speaking my language because I've thought about this so much. I had some health problems over the last couple of years and I've just seen so much how you experience the enabling power of the Atonement so much more when you're dealing with like you said, those limitations and I have never thought about it the way that you put it but I've said so many times like I can feel the Lord giving me just enough you know, that like daily bread principle, giving me just enough to get me through the one day and then the next day, and so I love that so much. Sarah, you have also experienced a lot of change over the past few years, for example, I had no idea that you had moved until somebody else told me. So what have you learned about embracing change? And how does that relate to our ability to create?

Sarah Jane Wright

So piggybacking off this idea of creativity thrives and limitations. You know, the Lord is so wise, He knows that we're not going to learn and grow from doing the same thing the same ways. I wish, I wish it was that easy. And change is inevitable. Our family has gone through a big change, like we all go through, my husband went back to school, we moved across the country, in the middle of the pandemic, uprooting teenagers and careers and everything that we had kind of known. And, you know, it's interesting, we were preparing for this move at the same time as we were reading the Book of Mormon and Come, Follow Me in 2020. And so we talked often as a family about the experience of Lehi and Nephi, and I've drawn a lot of experience from the brother of Jared, through this experience. You know, often we think, Oh, it's gonna go a certain way. And the Lord knows better because He wants us to become women and men of faith. And so I think, because we have to experience change, no matter where we are in the phase of life we're in. Every time I'm faced with those big decisions, where there's big changes, I'm given an opportunity to choose, am I going to choose Jesus Christ, or am I going to choose to just white knuckle it my own way? And so I think in this past experience with our family, getting uprooted and changing careers and plans, and even hopes and dreams were kind of put on the shelf, it's an opportunity, Morgan, I think to really dig deep and say, am I willing to create this life that God knows that I can create? And so coming back to this idea of creativity, ultimately, we don't know the end from the beginning. And when I sit down with a piece of paper, a white piece of paper, I ultimately actually don't know the end from the beginning, either I can have an idea in my mind of like what I want to draw or what I want to paint, but I don't know what it's gonna look like. And it's the same way in our life, you know, we can have an idea of how we're going to approach these big hurdles, or these big changes. But we have to trust the Lord. And so for me, creativity becomes more about the relationship between trusting the Lord and getting to work. And so I feel like I'm applying this principle, every day.

Morgan Jones Pearson

I noticed as I was kind of going through your social media to try to prepare for this interview, I noticed that you mentioned that you moved in the middle of COVID. And so you're like adjusting to this change, the whole world is adjusting to a crazy change. And I couldn't help but notice that you posted several times essentially, I couldn't say that I'm the same person that I was pre-COVID. And I think all of us can see that. And it may be in some positive ways. It may be in negative ways. But I wonder talking about God being a creator and kind of shaping and molding us into who he wants to wants us to be? How did you see that you were changed by that period of time where life was just different?

Sarah Jane Wright

Well, you're right, that we've all hopefully turned those experiences, or that the Lord has turned all those experiences for our good so so much. Can I illustrate this with a story, please, from the scriptures, I have gone back to the story of the brother of Jared probably more than any other story. You know, we all kind of have our favorite stories, and that one is my favorite. And when I think about how the Lord has turned those really hard changes and experiences for my good, and how He is helping me learn how to create, I think about the brother of Jared, because he had to create something right? He had to build a boat. He had to build this, this vessel. And I think about how the Lord instructed him. He instructed the brother of Jared to build a vessel and the way that he already knew how to do, which I love, right? He's starting where we are. The Lord is saying, Okay, I want you to cross these great waters. So go ahead and build a boat the way that you've done before. And I feel that shows incredible mercy and love that the Lord had for the brother of Jared but I also see this incredible opportunity that brother Jared had that isn't in the Scripture. So I'm kind of like pulling this and relating it to my own experience, the brother of Jared had already built these boats before. And they were for the small waters, right, whatever that was. But the brother of Jared knew he was going to be crossing these great waters that he would require more air to breathe, and it would need light. And they would be in these vessels for a lot of days. And because he had built them before for the small waters, he had to have known, like, while he was building it, wait a minute, this isn't going to be big enough or sufficient enough for me to cross the great waters. But it says in the scriptures that he built it to completion, he built those vessels like the Lord instructed. And I know for me, I would have probably gone to Heavenly Father way before I started and been like, wait a minute, this doesn't match up, you know, like, I gotta do this big job, I got to have a big boat for this big job, you're asking me to build a small boat. And I don't think it's gonna work. Brother of Jared didn't do that. He was first and foremost obedient. And I think sometimes when the Lord asks us to do really hard things we have this, we know is going to be hard. And we go, Wait a minute, I don't want to do this, or I want to do this a different way. And first and foremost, the brother of Jared was obedient. And the second thing that I want to pull from this story that I really had to trust and draw upon is that the Lord wanted to get the brother of Jared to the promised land. But even more importantly, I think he wanted to build a man of faith. And I've had to draw upon that principle, time and time again, that, yes, the Lord wants our family or wants me to go through certain experiences and have certain things. But most importantly, He wants me to become a woman of faith. And we know that because ultimately, the brother of Jared went through these amazing experiences of both coming up with ideas and relying upon the Lord for ideas. And ultimately he saw, he was able to see God, and the Lord needed him to become a man of faith before he crossed those great waters. And so when I think about the hard things that the Lord has asked our family to do, or myself to do, I have to remember that ultimately, He wants to create, I'm using that word very intentionally. He wants to create women and men of faith. And that's going to require me to be a partner with Him then, and I have to trust Him. And I have to both be willing to figure it out myself and go to Him for ideas. And so when it comes to how do I navigate, you know, those big changes, and ultimately, come to the Lord in that creative way, it's letting the Lord lead and letting myself choose and act. And that relationship is pretty awesome.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Well, I love the story of the brother of Jared, too. It's one of my favorites. And I think the part of it that resonates the most with me is the the idea of how and again, this is just like you said, This is me, like taking creative liberties with the story. But imagine how silly the brother of Jared must have felt taking those stones and being like, maybe you could light these up, and they could be our light. And I feel like sometimes like that's me, like, I bring these things. And I'm just like, well, maybe this could work. And I love him for that humility and willingness, like you said, to act in faith. I think that's such a great example.

Sarah Jane Wright

Yeah. And ultimately, like, I love that, because, I mean, let's go back to creativity. Isn't that what creation is? Maybe I'll paint it red. Oh, that looks better. Maybe I'll do this. And, in a spiritual sense, I mean all things are spiritual, so ultimately, everything that we get to do we have this opportunity. And sometimes they feel silly, like, okay, Heavenly Father, this is the best I got, you know, like help me make this choice I'm making to work out and, you know, Morgan, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes you go in and say, Hey, how about you take all of our silver and we'll get the brass plates and it doesn't work, right? Like, sometimes I think that the brother of Jared with the stones, we think, Oh, well, if I give something to Lord, He'll use it and it'll work out. And sometimes it doesn't. But we keep trying and we keep working. And for me, that is the process of creation. It's just foot in front of the other day after day, putting it to work, and it's awesome.

Morgan Jones Pearson

So so well said. So speaking of creative processes, you recently had this opportunity to illustrate a book that was unlike anything that you've done before because it was the first faith-based book that you've illustrated. And it was a book written by Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler, who we all love. But I'm curious when you approach illustrating a book about a story that is so well known that all of us have conjured up this image and vision in our heads of what it must have been like the night that Christ was born. How do you approach the creative process and working on a book like that?

Sarah Jane Wright

Well, first of all, David and Emily are so great to work with. And before the book was even written, we met together and talked a lot about like, why this book was so important. And it's so important because it has this angle of coming from before the birth. I think sometimes we think of the Nativity or the Christmas story, we're always looking back, we're looking back in the day. And this is such a cool story, because it's the 24 hours before. And it's a fictional story, of course. And it's about a father who is teaching his son of all the prophecies to look for. So the creative process for me of coming up with such a well-known story was kind of already written in, in the sense that this was a story about looking forward, it was a story about looking for the signs of Christ, it was a story about looking for miracles. And so first, before even the art was conceptualized, I had to know for myself what the story really meant for me spiritually. And so I had to really understand and come at it from that angle. In my performing days, I say performing is because I don't perform anymore. I was part of the church's musical Savior of the World for three years. And so every single night, almost, I mean, it felt like every single night for three years, I was looking up at the angels in this heavenly sky. And I was looking at the baby Jesus in the moonlight. And so visually, I'd had this actual experience of testifying of the Savior's birth in this environment. And so a lot of the visuals and the colors that I chose really came from my own personal experience of having to testify of the Savior's birth night after night. And so that was a real special experience for me to kind of tap into.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Yeah, well do you feel like that you, because I think that it's significant and maybe I'll be surprised by your answer. But I think that it's interesting to see, you know, regardless of what we're working on how we can feel or see God's hand or inspiration, do you feel like it was any different working on this project? Or do you feel like you got the same amount of inspiration that you would get on any project?

Sarah Jane Wright

I think in some ways, it was the same. But in other ways, I think I can say that I experienced a lot of opposition. Really, anytime you're putting anything out in the world that is good, especially when it comes to the gospel, you're just going to have opposition. And my opposition, I think, looked a lot like I don't have any ideas. I don't know what I'm gonna put on paper, like, I don't know what color I should do this. I don't know how I should compose this particular page. And so a lot of it was opposition in the sense that I actually had a lot of wrestle. It was hard for me, it wasn't an easy book to do, you would think it's so easy, because it's the Christmas story. And, you know, the illustrations aren't that complex, but for whatever reason, it was actually challenging. And I think that is the case, especially when you're putting good work out in the world, you're always going to have opposition, like I expect it now. And so for sure, I definitely had that.

Morgan Jones Pearson

I completely agree with that. I love that Emily Freeman is writing a book about looking forward to Jesus, because of everyone I know. She is the person that talks to me the most about—I think the other night, she was texting me and she said that about we just need Jesus to come. And I'm like, it's true. But I wondered in working on this project that obviously we've talked about the unique nature of it. But what touched you the most or made the biggest impression on you as you worked on this book? And it could be something about working with the authors or it could be your creative process, but what touched you the most or what will stick with you from having worked on this?

Sarah Jane Wright

I think ultimately, for me, it was really significant for me to put a picture book out in the world that would fall into the hands of families of faith. I this my first experience up until this point, everything I've published has been with national international publishers. And so this was my first book with Deseret Book and it was such a great opportunity. And knowing that this would be read by families that hopefully had a faith foundation. You know, I think another significant thing for me was being able to illustrate the story in a way that when you look at the book, you'll see that it really follows the day of a son, a father and a son. And they're shepherds. And usually you see all these shepherds, and they all go to the baby Jesus after they see the angels. But in this particular case, it's just one shepherd father and one shepherd son. And then they kneel at the manger, just by themselves. And I think for me, it was really powerful experience for me to illustrate the scene that we see so often, but to think of it as, what if that was just me? What if that was just me and my dad, you know, falling at the feet of the Savior, Baby Jesus. And so I think about the declaration "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior." And I think, for unto me is born this day. And so for me, I think it was significant to illustrate a book, that it was this simple father and son, that were looking for Jesus, and then heard the good tidings of Jesus, and then followed Jesus into Bethlehem, and then ultimately kneel at His manger, and it's one on one. Jesus is here for me and for you. And it's a personal experience. So I hope I hope people get that. But for me, that was, I think, the most significant part of working on it.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Sarah, before we get to our very last question, I realized that I have another question for you. And I am curious for your thoughts on this. And that is, why are you personally grateful for a savior?

Sarah Jane Wright

Morgan, I love this question so much. And I, you know, I think I would answer that question differently at different phases in my life. And I'm currently going through a phase of my life where a lot of change is happening. There's changes in my family, changes in every aspect and I personally have chosen to cling to the Savior. And I was listening to President Nelson's talk, this last talk on rest. And he quotes President Benson, one of my favorite quotes, and it says, "Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives and they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quick in their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace." I mean, holy cow, look at that list, right. And then he says, whosoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life. And there have been so many times when, especially earlier years, where I thought, Oh, this is great. If I turn my life over to God, then all these great things are gonna happen. In some ways, I almost feel, maybe it's not the opposite but it's a it's a totally, it's not a healthy way to look at my relationship with Jesus Christ. I am grateful for Jesus Christ, because He has made more out of my life than I can. And while I thought it might look like a certain way, or having certain things in my life, or certain experiences, I am so grateful for Him because I had such a narrow view of what that could be. And I still do, like I always will, right? In this life, we will never really understand what that means but He gives us these little glimpses. And for me, it looks like the tender mercies that He is constantly giving me those little tender mercies, those little miracles that if we're looking for it, we can feel that gratitude for a Savior, that He's turning our losses, and He's turning our grief, and He's turning our struggles into something so much better. And sometimes we see it, and sometimes we don't. But it's those little tender mercies that He is giving me that when I look for I see them, I can trust that He is making more of me and all of His children than we could make of ourselves.

Morgan Jones Pearson

That was awesome. I completely agree with you. And I think it's interesting. Because I think, to your point, God's view of us is so much more expansive than our view of ourselves. And his ability to take all of those heartbreaks or trials and turn them into something that's for our advantage is so much greater than we can even comprehend. And so I love how you said, you know, that you imagined it being one way and it's looked different. And I think that's true of every single one of us.

Sarah Jane Wright

Exactly. And, you know, ultimately, doesn't that make Him the most amazing creator. He's creating something so much better than I could create myself. And that requires so much humility. And that balance is, is a day to day I'm just I'm just so grateful. It's just incredible.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Sarah, my last question for you is what does it mean to you to be all in the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Sarah Jane Wright

To be all in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love this question so much. And in fact, last night at the dinner table, I told my kids that I was going to be asked this question on a podcast. And I said, you know, this is probably maybe one of the most important questions we could ask ourselves. And so we have this amazing dinner table conversation as part of our Come, Follow Me. This was our Come, Follow Me last night, Morgan, was what does it mean to be all in? Gosh, my kids' answers were better than any of the ones that I could have come up with. And while there's so many different things I could say, I think it boils down to the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about my relationship with Him, that God is all in for me. And so I want to be all in for Him. Because ultimately, it's His covenant relationship. And so for me being all in the gospel of Jesus Christ, how can I not be all in when He's all in for me? Like, I honestly feel that like, How can I not give everything? And I think it's important kind of going off of what we've talked about before, it's important to realize that I don't have to be all in and know everything. I don't have to be all in and understand everything. I don't have to be all in and even know everything about Jesus Christ. I can be all in and He takes it from there. And so for me, being all in really comes down to am I willing to cling to Him? And I'm am I willing to hold on to Him while He takes me through this incredible journey? And I'm trusting Him throughout the whole process.

Morgan Jones Pearson

So so well said, Sarah, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me and for sharing so many beautiful thoughts. I feel like I have had several paradigm shifts, and I'm grateful for that, too. Thank you so so much.

Sarah Jane Wright

Oh, thank you, Morgan.

Morgan Jones Pearson

We are so grateful to Sarah Jane Wright for joining us on today's show. You can find "More Than Just A Star," the picture book that Sarah Jane illustrated that was authored by Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler in Deseret Book stores now. A huge thanks to Derek Campbell of Mix At Six Studios for his help with this episode, and thank you all for listening. We'll look forward to being with you again next week.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai