When you express what is authentic to God’s creative Spirit within you, you bring a unique gift to the world, because no one else can say or do or see the world exactly the way you can.
God’s Spirit is still moving in the world, even in and through us. When we express the Spirit’s creative movement in our own unique way, we bring something brand new to the world. Sometimes creativity arises from pain, sometimes from joy; but it is always more than “art” done by “creative” people.
Let Creation spark creativity
Take some time to walk around in silence and notice creation. Find a comfortable place to sit and look around. When do you feel particularly close to nature? What place helps you feel close? What did you see, hear, smell, touch? In what ways does this experience draw you closer to other people and to God?
What is waiting to be created through you as a gift to share?
Read David Whyte’s poem “What to Remember When Waking”. What do you see and hear in the poem that sparks creative thought and action for you?
Being an Artist
Reflect on these comments by Madeleine L’Engle (Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith & Art):
To paint a picture or to write a story or to compose a song is an incarnational activity. The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birthgiver. In a very real sense the artist (male or female) should be like Mary who, when the angel told her that she was to bear the Messiah, was obedient to the command…I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius, or something very small, comes to the artist and says, “Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me.”
Consider the Lillies: How might our anxieties diminish our creativity?
Read Matthew 6:26-32: Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?’ or “What will we drink?’ or “What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
Be a Potter
Read Jeremiah 18:1-4: “1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.”
Be the potter and create something. Work with Play-Doh or clay, draw something or build something. What did you make that you liked? What did you make that was ugly or displeasing as a creator? How did you react? What did you remake? What does this tell us about God’s work and our relationships?
How can we use our creativity everyday to make our work, our church and our lives truly extraordinary?
Review and choose one of the 10 points of Everyday Creativity and focus on it.
1. Creativity is the ability to look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary.
2. Every act can be a creative one.
3. Creativity is a matter of perspective.
4. There’s always more than one right answer.
5. Reframe problems into opportunities.
6. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
7. Break the pattern.
8. Train your technique.
9. Put ourselves in the place of most potential.
10. Be ready to take advantage of windows of opportunity.
Sources: waytolive.org, everydaycreativityfilm.org