Recognizing Your Creativity

"What are you making?"

Isaiah 45:9

I went for a walk the other day, and there was a house in the neighborhood that had decorated for Autumn by putting pumpkins in their garden.  I thought it was such a unique way to use pumpkins, which are a fun bit of seasonal decor, as well as being delicious!  But when I first saw them, I thought, "Huh... I never would have thought of that..."  I'm just not that creative.

We went to a friend's house for dinner the other night.  It's a new house for them, so we got a tour, and we admired the way she had decorated.  Furniture, placement of art, etc.  Because of her husband's job, and their need to travel back and forth, they kept their home in Arizona, so they didn't bring much of their belongings here.  So she went to a few consignment stores for furniture, and a couple of other places for pretty little tchotchkes to place here and there.  So this wasn't a lifetime of art and knick-knack and furniture collecting here, it was a need to furnish a home relatively quickly.  But everything was so lovely, and I appreciated the way things were matched and grouped together.  And I thought, "Huh... I don't think I could have put all this together so nicely."  I'm just not that creative.

We also got to talking about some of the art on her walls.  This was my daughter, my friend and myself, which was fun because I just love conversations about art with my daughter.  She's an artist ~ a very talented one ~ so her input is so interesting to me.  She sees things about lighting or reflection or color that I might not notice.  And she appreciates the feel of art differently than I do.  Of course, we all probably react differently from one another when it comes to art.  But when my girl looks at art, she at least has the option of thinking, "I wonder how I'd go about creating that same thing..."  All I can think is, "Wow.  I could never do that.  I'm just not that creative."

But you know what?  I love cooking.  I love to get ideas, and try things and add and subtract and substitute in the kitchen.   And more often than not, I'm successful.   I am fairly creative when it comes to food.

And I love teaching.  I like finding new ways to provide my kids with the education they're required to have by the state, plus the things God wants them to know, while adding the things they want to know, all the while trying to make learning as enjoyable as possible. 

I also love organizing.  As much as possible, I like to have a place to store everything in our home (whether or not it actually gets put away is a whole 'nother question) and I like for books and files and even spices to be in a way that makes sense.  And in our fairly small (but just fine for us) house, that sometimes takes some creativity.

It's easy to look at our skill set and decide we don't have the gifts that our friend or neighbor or sibling does.  Or we can look at our abilities, and not see them as unique gifts.  It's just "how we are".  And even more than appreciating the abilities that make me me, I love to recognize them as forms of creativity.  Cuz that's what He does.  God is the Creator, and we are made in His image. 

Gardening, music, woodworking, needlework, troubleshooting appliances.... take a new look at what you love to do, and how you're good at it.  There's something about you that's unique ~ cuz He's creative about how He creates!

~ "put on the new man 

   which was created according to God,

     in true righteousness and holiness" ~

Ephesians 4:24

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