I’ve been doing a lot of projects lately: writing, building, crafting, video making…I feel like I’m five years old again in the kitchen with my grandma working on our latest creation. She and I used to do so many fun things together.
One of the things I remember most clearly is sitting with her on her living room couch making a list of all the words you can spell the same forward and backward: racecar (if it was one word, apparently, because my spellcheck is telling me that it’s not), kayak, level, radar…you get the point. According to Google, these are called palindromes.
That’s definitely not the coolest thing she and I ever did, and it really has nothing to do with the lesson I’m learning. I just really like that memory and it makes me happy to think about.
But anyway, I’ve had a lot of time to do creative things, and that’s what I want to talk about. I see a lot of other people are doing creative things too. One of my brother’s baseball coaches is building adorable picnic tables for squirrels. My old math teacher is making some really cool chairs. Other people are painting and sewing and crafting all sorts of beautiful things. I really enjoy seeing all of these neat ideas.
Normally we never have time to do any of these things because we’re too busy living “normal” life, but now that we have all of this free time, one of the first things we started doing is creating.
There are so many different versions of being a creative person that I don’t believe people when they say “Oh I’m just not creative.” We often think of creative people only as the successful Pinterest-project kind of people. I disagree.
Yes there is the Pinterest-worthy artsy person, but there’s also the inventor who can come up with new ways of doing things, the fixer who can transform something old or broken into something new and functional, the people person who can come up with ways to relate to anyone, the imaginative person who visualizes crazy stories and clever ideas. There’s also the girl with the beautifully-coordinated Instagram, the baker who can make anything taste good, the athlete who creates new moves, plays, and skills, or the neighbor with the awesome garden.
There are so many ways to be creative — way more than I just listed — and I love that we’re able to pursue these things right now. I think we might be getting a little too creative with the rules and regulations we’re coming up with, but that aside, we’re creating some other really cool stuff. And I think this creating is what we were created to do in the first place.
The first five words of the Bible tell us, “In the beginning God created.” And five days later God said, “Let us making human beings in our image, to be like us…So God created human being in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female, He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)
The first thing we learn about God is that He’s creative. And the first thing we learn about ourselves as human beings is that we were made in the image of God. We were meant to create.
I don't know about you, but when I’m working on projects and coming up with new ideas, I feel a lot of joy. There’s just something about doing what you feel like you were made to do that’s exciting and fulfilling.
God created each of us very intentionally and He gave us all unique ways of creating and specific things we’re passionate about, and I don’t think we were meant to only pursue these things when we’re quarantined with nothing else to do. I think we’re supposed to create all the time. Our lives weren’t meant to be boring. Instead, the Bible says that Jesus came so that we “may have life and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)
I hope we all find something we love to create and do that more often. Creating is fulfilling and when done right, it’s glorifying to God, and that’s our greatest purpose.
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