You Are Creative

I was at the pottery studio a couple days ago and overheard a comment that made me smile. A girl about my age was talking about her endeavor in pottery. Apparently she is a number cruncher during the day and something inspired her to try out pottery. As she was talking she said, "I'm not ..." paused, "I am trying to stop myself from saying I'm not creative..." I have heard so many people say that they are not creative, and it was so good to hear someone say that they are not allowing themselves to say that. I've always felt that there is some creativity in each person, even if they don't realize it. It just has to be tapped.

People have told me that I'm creative because I am interested in doing things like pottery and beading and other crafts, and turn out some interesting products. Its nice to hear, but I don't feel any more creative than someone who would say, "I'm not creative." However, something in me feels fulfilled and peaceful and overflowingly happy when I am in the creative process. I glean immense pleasure from producing art. And, I think it has something to do with God's fingerprint on me. We're all created in God's image, and HE is the master creator. Creating somehow makes me feel in touch with God. And because we're all made in His image, I maintain that on some level we all must be creative. For proof I'd like to offer any one of my kindergarten classes. I can put out a huge box of crayons and markers and a stack of plain paper, and they all will be content for as long as I let them draw and color. We're all creative.

I was thinking about that word: creativity. People generally use that word to describe new, interesting ideas and original or unique work. But as I was thinking about it I realized that the word creativity comes from the word create, and the word create doesn't mean anything more than "to cause something to be" or "to make." Well, we all make things. Some people make grilled cheese sandwiches, some people make charts for business proposals, some people make ridiculously complicated software, some people make comfortable homes, and some people make elaborate cakes. Everybody makes something sometimes; a perfect pyramid of canned food, a tree house in the backyard, a happy birthday card, a snugly rolled sleeping bag, a precision shave, a detailed tour of a city... the list is endless. We all create. We all bare the fingerprint of the Master Creator. We all are creative. How freeing would it be for each of us to embrace this? What would you create if you believed you too were creative. You are.