Community Post: The Whispers of a Creative Heart

He delights in detail and beauty. His creative touch is everywhere and in us. In our spirits, at our core is creativity.

She whispered it low, like she didn’t want anyone to hear. Just loud enough for the words of her heart to reach mine.

“I’m not creative. I wish I was, but I’m not.”

I knew it wasn’t true, but I didn’t know how to let her see what I saw. No matter how many times I held up a mirror of encouraging words, she could only see past it to everyone else she thought to be gifted with artistic creativity.

In her hair she wore a flower pin. The steps to her home sheltered pots of lavender and ivy, planted with her own hands. When it was time for coffee, it was served with cake made in her kitchen. Creative beauty and grace were evident, to everyone except her. And somewhere along the way she had begun believing that creative expression could only be found in the perfect; with a pencil, words, or a brush. So she labelled herself and shut the door to a world of wonder and worship.

It got cold last week. Cold enough in June to light a fire. And when I was stacking kindling and arranging logs in just the right way, I thought of her. Because logs and kindling and mesmerizing flames, that’s art! The same way that quilt squares, rows of peas planted in a vegetable garden or a well organized spice cupboard is art!

There is art in columns of numbers, lyrics to a song and the angle of a building. There isn’t one of us that isn’t creative. But it’s a spirit crushing world we find ourselves in. It’s easy to get caught up in comparison, to let harsh words or actions convince us we must have missed out. We believe that creativity is only for a few, and so we shut the door.

We are all fashioned by the God of the universe. And the created need to turn to the creator to be reminded we are made like Him. He delights in detail and beauty. His creative touch is everywhere and in us. In our spirits, at our core is creativity. And every expression of that, is worship.

Acknowledging that part of us, draws us closer to the God who loves to see us become all we were created to be. And when we open the door, we let out the lie, allowing the truth to enter. Creativity doesn’t mean perfect. It means being you. It means blessing the world with all that you were designed to be and give. It means expressing the life in you and worshipping the one that put it there!

Opening the door may sound like a low whisper. Just loud enough for the words of our heart to be heard by His.

“I am creative. I was made by the great creator (For you created my inmost being…) and His work is wonderful. I want to be all I was created to be, and that doesn’t mean the expression needs to be perfect”

It might mean looking to the God of the universe and asking Him to show us we are created in His image. He may want to point us to the things already around us and how they mirror that amazing creative life, or He may ask us to pick up a brush, a pen, a crayon, a camera.

There is wonder in firelight, and worship in birdsong. Beauty in pots of lavender and grace in our offerings. All that God created, can in turn, create and worship Him. It’s part of a plan, a beat of His heart. The ones He created learning to be who they were meant to be. Every time He brushes the evening sky with shades of sunset, sends windsong through the poplars or counts out the perfect number of stars He is reminding us. This God we follow is wildly creative and He whispers “You were made like me and I love your creative heart!”