Reclaim Your Creative Spirit by Patrice Fagnant-MacArthurWhen we first encounter God in
Bible, He is immersed in
act of creation. It is an act that provides pleasure and self-satisfaction. "God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good." (Gen 1:31) We who are made in God's image are also meant to create, to co-create with God. We are His instruments here on Earth. God's ideas take shape in our ideas and become
work of our hands.
It sometimes seems as though
world is divided into two camps - those who are "creative" and those who are not. Nothing could be further from
truth. We are all born with innate creative ability. Young children automatically create. They do not need to be shown how to express themselves creatively. They build with blocks, scribble with crayons, explore with clay and paint, sing and dance with glee, and they do so with both abandon and determination. It is an act of joy. While having a definite purpose in mind, they create purely to create. The results have a freshness and spontaneity to them that many adults attempt to capture in their own creative endeavors.
At some point, however, we begin to attempt a more realistic approach to our creative projects. We begin to feel that there is a "right" way for our pictures to look, our songs to sound, our dance steps to be. Perhaps some well-meaning adult told us to color in
lines, or we simply began to observe other adult's creativity at work. Regardless, we begin to judge our work, and decide it doesn't measure up to our own or other's expectations. We forget
joy of creating and instead focus on
outcome.
It is possible, however, to reclaim that lost joy and nurture
creativity within us. Julia Cameron in "The Artist's Way" (G.P. Putnam's Sons) tells us that "when we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to
creator's creativity within us and our lives." She goes on to say that we must give ourselves permission to be bad at our creative endeavors, because
fear of being bad is often
only thing keeping us from being good. We need to send our inner judge away for
duration and allow ourselves to be beginners, to create for
pure joy of creating. Cameron emphasizes
fact that we alone do not do
creating. God works through us. As she states in
artist's prayer: "Great Creator, I will take care of
quantity. You take care of
quality." We must open ourselves up to
flow that is within us.