To Create is Divine

To create is to connect with the Divine.

It never fails to amaze me when I consider the endless variety of creation. The infinite shades of blue that make up the earth’s waters. The intricate, minuscule details that adorn a tiny insect’s body. The spectrum of emotions we humans feel and the bodily responses that we barely notice, let alone control. The Creative force that designed our bodies, our earth – the universe! – is breathtaking in its genius.

We carry this spark of creativity in us. As God’s creation, as reflections of God, we instinctively long to create. We become spiritually alive when we create. When we design and envision and produce something new, something that is a reflection of our own heart, our own intellect, our own experience – we become more ourselves, more of who God intended us to be.

My 8-year old daughter likes to color in church. Today she sat through three services (three!) without complaint, listening, absorbing, singing, praying, and all the while markers littered her seat as she intently colored her mosaic, each tiny pop of color lending itself to the vibrant vision in her head.

When my brain is on autopilot, I tell myself that my longing to drop everything and create is selfish. It’s a hobby, I hiss at myself, one I need to put on the back burner to attend to the non-negotiable, pressing things of life.

But this is a lie. It is nothing but a parroting of our world’s productivity-obsessed dismissal of creativity as a “luxury”, a nicety and not a necessity. The truth is, creating is one of the most important things I can do for my soul. As I watched my daughter today, engrossed with the art in her lap, contented to worship for three straight hours, the artist hiding within me felt this truth as clearly as I felt the presence of God – to create is to connect with the Divine.

Which means, if I am to find sustainable rhythms for spiritual flourishing in this #AugustReset journey, I’m learning that protecting time and space for creativity ought to be as important as protecting time and space for prayer.

After all, creating is praying. Creating is reaching out to God, to the Divine spark within, for wisdom, for inspiration, for understanding, for meaning. Creating is one of the purest, surest paths to intimacy with the Creator, the One who gave us the hunger to create in the first place.