Recently I've been noticing God's little nudges to remind me that I worship a creative God. During Lent I actually re-decorated my room in some creative ways (incomplete, unfortunately). During a discipleship meeting with a student we went over how we were made in God's image in the first few chapters of Genesis. Last week at my upstate staff meetings it came up during my retreat of silence, group time and prayer sessions. Our spiritual director read a number of excerpts from a book on Sabbath, but this quote stuck out to me the most:
"Emptiness is the pregnant void out of which all creation springs." --Wayne Muller
It struck a chord in me because I actually had a really hard time focusing during my retreat of silence. I wasn't looking forward to that or the "Great Silence" we always have that night all the way into the morning through breakfast time. It wasn't because I was afraid of silence or don't like quietness - I'm an introvert, of course I enjoy silence and quietness. At first I couldn't put my finger on why I didn't want to be in silence. It wasn't like I was trying to avoid silence by distracting myself with busyness or noise or wasting time.
I felt like I have been hitting a good rhythm in life of learning to say no, learning to practice Sabbath and quietness and stillness (especially through my morning and evening routines), not over-burdening myself with tasks or the weight of responsibility that isn't mine to carry. It's just that I've been by myself and practicing silence and solitude a lot as a new staff worker that I was, as my dear co-workers helped me discover, in fact just plain discontent with the emptiness that rang out into the silence. I've been longing for more.
But that Muller quote, along with all the other things popping up in my life remind me that God is such a creative God and that He created me in His image in such a way that I have the capacity to create something new or take something old and make it my own. In fact, all of us humans have that capacity. I sometimes get frustrated when people say, "I'm not creative," because I think by believing that you deny the creation God designed you to be. Honestly, I do think it is a discipline we can develop. It's something we practice and learn. I don't think I would be so inclined to creativity if it wasn't for the way my parents raised me.
Creativity goes a long way with problem solving, too. You have a problem because you have a goal but there are obstacles or rules or limits that prevent you from achieving that goal. Creative problem solving steps in when you seek solutions that work outside the limits presented before you. Creativity thrives when you go beyond what is expected.
I think it's part of the reason why I thrive with structures and systems. You can't think outside the box if you don't know what the box is. You can't move beyond limits if you don't know what parameters you're limited to. It's why it's important to learn the basic rules and structures of any form of writing or art (which is usually associated with creativity) - you can't break the rules if you don't know what the rules are.
The sad part is when the only thing stopping us from being creative is ourselves. It's like we look at the fence that's blocking our way, say, "Well, I guess we can't get to the other side," when really all you had to do was be willing to do a little work to find the gate that was never locked in the first place.
It's funny because as I was working on this post yesterday, I decided to look at Donald Miller's latest post, which was about being a creator rather than a critic. I liked the post a lot because it's sometimes how I feel about people who complain or whine about an issue they see but don't seem to do anything about it (which, trust me, I've been guilty of before). I don't know if it's my optimistic outlook, but I usually believe and hope that there is an alternative solution. Sometimes it means changing our attitude when we can't change our environment or people around us.
So being creative is not always something we're instantly good at doing. It takes practice and work and a different kind of mentality. It means faithfully showing up even if you don't get the inspiration you hoped for.
If you're willing to take on the challenge start somewhere, this website has some interesting places to start. But you don't need some website to tell you ways to be creative. Just take your current situations, problems, issues, and identify those limits. Think about where you are/what you anticipate will happen and then think about where you'd like to be. Make some observations and brainstorm some alternative solutions. Take ownership over your situation and turn it into a chance to do something you haven't tried before - you might like what you find!
I've still got a lot to learn, I'm discovering that creativity can sometimes be an ironic part of my life. But at least my balloon of discontent silence is slowly deflating. Emptiness allows space for new life to spring up! That's exciting.
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