Children are born creators. They dance and play in the open field of their vivid imaginations. So, what shrinks our aging souls and stifles this playful expression? What imprisons the spirit that was born to revel in creativity?
For me, it’s primarily fear. I’ve dabbled in watercolors and sketching for many years but have struggled with the proverbial block both in my art and in my writing. I have amassed tools, equipment and books and enjoy arranging them around me in great admiration. But at the same time, I’m intimated by it and hesitant to put the brush to the paper for fear of making a mistake or creating something less than breath taking and less than perfect.
Last year, my creative journey took a turn. In September, I watched Anneli Anderson create a painting during a time of worship at Camp Elkanah. Her description of the process and her journey as an artist pushed back the curtain for me. This is what she shared:
“My paradigm changed from ‘I create to find acceptance and value for what I am able to produce’ to ‘I create because I am loved, and there is nothing I can produce to be more loved, accepted, or valued than I already am through Christ.’ I now have a new freedom, through that assurance, to experiment with color and more thoroughly enjoy the creative process! It has become like prayer for me….I submit my gifts to the Lord for the glory of His name and to be a blessing to those around me.” http://www.studioanneli.com/about-anneli/
That night my paradigm began to shift as well. Because of His great love and great grace, I am fully accepted as I am in Christ Jesus. He has uniquely gifted me and made me to be a conduit of His love and grace. I am not made to create admirable perfection but to capture and express the beauty of His touch upon the world and upon my soul…for His glory and praise. In that, it is an act of worship.
I have an Artist-in-Residence, Creativity Himself, – living, thinking, feeling, imagining and creating – in my soul. He is at my right hand as I pencil lines and words, as I touch a brush loaded with paint to the paper, mix ingredients for the next scone recipe and find a solution to a problem.
He calls us to dance in rhythm with the pulse of His creativity. Sometimes it wells up until the mind and heart are overwhelmed by an impulse to express it. Then the song flows, colors blend, words touch the soul and a solution works.
There is no mystery to the creative process…no secret ingredient in the soup. Simply place the first mark on the page, write the first sentence, make the first cut in the wood or the first stitch in the fabric…then another and another. Make mistakes, learn and grow. Throw away what you don’t like. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to be.
Michelangelo said,
“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
What imprisons your creative heart? Fear, perfectionism, guilt, intimidation of a blank screen, an empty staff sheet, lump of clay, block of wood, bolts of fabric, handfuls of seeds or a store full of ingredients? Let God chisel away the stone that restricts and confines His expression through you. He will expand your heart with joy and set it free!
I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free. Psalm 119:32
Run, sing, dance…create!
