JUST A TINY CREATION

Nothing haunts me more than a blank page.  Ultimately any ivory canvas will soon enough become soiled by the painter, but unlike a painter I do not see the finished work even before casting my first stroke.  Call it naïvety, immaturity, or lack of skill... but that is just not me.  Right now, I have no plan of what to do or what to say--I'm more Pollack than Picasso,  but when I sit down to write I always find the hours drift by as I simply stare into nothing: this ungodly mess waiting to happen.  All these thoughts inside fight so hard to get out and breath for the first time the fresh air of this intoxicating world, yet only the lucky few ever make it past the gate.  I realized tonight, while hating the empty page, that writing for me is not something I do out of duty to this idea that more writing will make me the great artist I wish I was, I'm simply awake to the spirit of creativity inside me that became incarnate the moment God breathed flesh into Adam.  We are created in his image--in the Creator's image, the inclination to make and do is simply nature.  Not so deep inside every man and woman exists the God-intended instinct to create beauty and community, just as he did--just as he does.  I imagine God takes great delight in watching his children creating even the tiniest of things.  When considering the inconsiderable greatness of his creation, our puny little paintings, songs, books, statues, sex, and talking-pictures are so significantly insignificant.  Like the four year old son of the master architect who builds his first popsicle stick house and claims engineering success, Daddy must take great pleasure in watching his little one explore the curiosity he inherited from his loving Father.

I write a lot about beauty and community; mostly because they are the same, but also because I believe God created us to experience both in profound and life-changing ways.  Psychologists are refining Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to add in a step committed to the aesthetic experience, and I wonder how many times along the way Christians could have picked up the ball and taught the world this truth, first.  Knowing and seeing beauty in this world is an integral part in having the joy of Christ in your life.  That joy of course comes from the strong community between the Holy Spirit and our hearts--formed in the birth of that moment we stepped over the line that forever separated us from Death's sting, and ushered us into everlasting life.  And it doesn't stop there!  The community we experience with each other is literally a demonstration of our community with God, imago dei in its purest form.  The power of friendships, of love, is an expression of the quintessence of who we are in Christ.  Whereas community with the Holy Spirit and each other brings us joy, our experience of joy gives us an appreciation of the importance of beauty; and when there is not enough beauty around, God gave us a spirit to create some to share.

So share beauty with each other.  Enjoy community.  Laugh, dance, sing, and paint.  EXPLORE, DREAM, DISCOVER.  Let that Holy Spirit work in your life, and you will see great and powerful things, and trust me, you'll never be the same.