So, if you have grown up in church this may not be anything new to you. Or if you hang out in the Christian circles I do or similar circles, then this is nothing new to you. I have grown up in church all of my life and have been involved in many groups (or at least had friends) that differ greatly in regards to the Christian walk. From "rock music is the devil" to "God is okay with sin", but only recently (by recently I would say the past 10 or so years) have I been in the church circles that discuss the simple view that just being creative is walking (or as I like to put it "communing") with God. Singing on the guitar, or writing music, Tattooing (this one some circles might disagree with), painting, dancing, writing fiction or poetry, etcetera, is all activating one of the very things that make us "like God". When I say like God, I mean like God in the fact that we were created in His image. Some would say we were created with....if I remember the terms correctly...the dichotomy image of God and others would say the trichotomy image of God. This is basically spirit/soul, and body vs spirit, soul, and body. The former - if I remember my doctrine correctly - would combine the spirit and soul into one, and the latter separates them. Really, though, it is all semantics, and we digress.
The idea that the simple act of creativity is an aspect that God uses to bring us closer to him - lets say a gifting from God that we activate right up there with all of the gifts of the spirit - has been a fairly new concept to me, but I would say pretty accurate. At least that is my interpretation from the teachings I have heard lately on creativity. I would definitely agree that the simple act of creativity is, indeed, a spiritual gift. Everybody has it, of course - otherwise there would be no new businesses, art, etc. But the idea here is that when we activate our creativity it is the same as activating the gift of healing or tongues or prophecy or teaching or preaching or the such. In fact, I would say, before we even "activate" them, God is directing us to "activate" them - I am referring to all gifts, here. The Holy Spirit leads us and then we choose to "activate" or step into the leading the holy spirit provides. It's much like a guide or friend directing us down a path that we may have walked many times before, but the choice comes when our guide or friend asks us to follow him down a path we have not taken. We can choose to go with him or go the way we know. If we choose not to go with him, he will walk with us down the familiar road, but if we choose to go the new way, he has a great experience and we get to walk closer with him as we take the path together. Maybe not the best analogy, but I suppose it is decent enough.
So the idea that simply being creative is a way to connect with God is pretty cool - especially for those of us who overflow with creativity in any aspect. I can definitely attest to this idea, as I have grown in my creativity and have learned a few things about "walking in my creativity" For instance - I will try and keep this short - If I get a story from God, I have learned to start jotting down the ideas. If I don't, I may forget them, or even worse, I may stop the flow of the holy spirit from communing with me and giving me even more ideas for that story or another story. This I truly believe to be the case. For me, I have learned that never is it "just an idea for a story", it is a story God has given to me, so I start walking with God and writing down these ideas.
So, this was a little different of a post, I suppose. I hope you enjoyed it, and think about your creative outlet (EVERYBODY has one, some more than others). Next time you get "inspired", think about taking it further than just "an idea" and see what happens...see if you start to feel like God is guiding you through even more creativeness. I sure do.
Until next time.
C.J. Korryn