This past weekend, a great group of women gathered at Boyce Thompson Arboretum, the oldest and largest botanical garden in Arizona. The theme of our day was Created in the Image of The Creator. Together, we agreed to put on a child-like mindset and to release ourselves from the expectations of perfection in order to have fun with our creative side. Why? Because, we all have a creative bone whether or not we are aware of it.
In Genesis 1, we read about God creating the world. Chaos from disorder. Light and darkness. Water above and water below. Sea creatures and land creatures. Seed and fruit bearing plants. And God calls it all good. Then we read God creates humankind (and calls it very good). And here is where we hone in on an important verse: “So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them” (Genesis 1:27).
Follow along...If we are created by God and in God’s image. And God is a Creator. Then we too are creators. When we begin life we know this inherently! We take blocks and create buildings. We use refrigerator boxes to build rockets. Wagons become airplanes and a tree is our castle. We experiment with playdough and sand, paint and crayons. As we grow older, the mediums change but something else does too. For many of us, somewhere along the line, we adopt a mentality that unless we are fine artists, master lyricists, or talented musicians, we don’t have a ‘creative bone in our bodies.’ Maybe it’s because eventually our art begins to get graded by whether or not we can color in the lines or make a painting look realistic. So we just stop exploring that creative side. When we give up creating, a part of our spirit that’s connected to our Creator God, becomes a bit malnourished.
Whether it be in the kitchen or on canvas. Recycling resources or recording records. Journaling your devotional time, turning Scripture into poetry or allowing God’s creation to inspire you in the garden. There are a multitude of ways we can be creative. I encourage you to explore where your spirit is fed through creativity. Have fun. Experiment. Lose the expectation for perfection. You might discover a new hobby and something more about who God created you to be!
