Creativity
One of my favorite teachers was Mike Yaconelli. Mike was the founder of Youth Specialties. Although he passed away suddenly in 2003, his perspective on life and ministry has stuck with me. Particularly his perspective on creativity.
Mike pointed out that when you walk up to a four-year-old and ask them if they are an artist, almost all of them will say yes. If you ask them what they can draw, they will reply that they can draw anything. You want a tiger; they can draw a tiger. You want a self-portrait; they draw a self-portrait.
If you ask a four-year-old if they are a singer, almost all of them will say yes. If you ask them what they can sing, they will say that they can sing anything. It is this way for theater and music and art. Really anything that takes creativity.
In his experience the older a child gets, the less likely they are to say that they can do these creative things. For most of us, by the time we were teenagers we had narrowed our focus to a few things we were willing to offer the world. Many adults I know would not be comfortable doing any of these things for an audience, and most would not call themselves artists.
The thing is, you were made to be creative. You are made in the image of God, and God is the first and ultimate creator. When we live out our creativity, we live out who God made us to be.
Join us this Sunday at Borelli’s as we live into the dream that God has for us in the world.
Peace,
Matthew
An Opportunity For Creativity: Sketching God’s Long View
Clear a desk or table, grab some crayons or colored pencils and paper. Read the following passages and depict what is happening in them. Draw your own neighborhood or city or an international city you have visited as the modern context for these three scriptures describing God’s long view: Jeremiah 29:4-14, John 4:7-30, Isaiah 43:16-21. Don’t worry about being an artist, just make stick figures and symbols on paper when it helps. Have fun with it.