Do you "create"?

Think about that for a moment.
As artists, we often describe ourselves as "creative"
We'll sometimes call our work "creations"
But we don't really have the right to say that.
The word "Create" comes from a Hebrew word that means to make something out of nothing.

So in order to say that we created something, we would have sparked that something into existence from void. We would have to literally take something that never was, and make it be. This is impossible! We are but people! And while revered by God when dawning His righteousness, we are simply not capable of creating the way only He can. By the simplest word from His mouth, something becomes; because He is God, and He is sovereign. But at the same time, we were created in His image, and therefore we have a natural need to put our emotions and love and time into our work. It's our niche. It's most definitely a form of worship. Our natural desire to create and learn is rooted in our origin as creations of the ultimate Creator. We were made to make.  

I like to take canvases and paint and decorate them with various color schemes and personalize them as gifts. I’ll use a lot of different pieces, from cardstock to keys to buttons to feathers.  And when people tell me what a good job I did and all that, I can’t help but think that I haven’t really done much. I didn’t make the canvas. I didn’t make the paint. I didn’t even print the cardstock. Every little piece of my finished work was made by someone else. And that person got his materials from someone else. And that person made the materials from resources that he got from someone else. And that person got the resources from the earth… which is God’s creation. Do you see? By the time that I made that painting, the parts of it had already been created, then re-shaped and re-formed time and time again by many hands and many minds.  

And that’s what God wants us to do. He gave us the earth so that we might rule over it, and use its resources, and thrive off of it until He comes again. He’s given us the means to make things, and He’s given us inspiration. We were made to make. I believe that the purest form of worship is when you use your talents bestowed upon you by the Living God to make some form of art that He has inspired you to make. It is what you are meant to do.

We, as creations, are made to gather little bits and pieces of our world and craft them into something beautiful. We are like no other part of His creation. We are the ones given the vision that can see beauty in the ashes. We are the ones who were meant to take whatever medium we can find, and with either utmost care or recklessness, pour our out the laments and rejoices of our soul. And in the flourishes and distressed beauty of our work, we can find little hints of divine love and redemption. We are the ones who show His glory in ways that are unique and individual to us all.  Like fingerprints on a lamp post in a busy city; each tells its own story of a life that had been wasted and then redeemed. We are the story tellers. We are the picture painters. We are the ones who take that which is already created, and perhaps that which has been corrupted, and craft it into a new beauty.     

 
So go! Whatever your medium be, go do it! Change it! Let it reflect what your God has done inside of you! Let it tell a story!

 

~Heather Rose