What does it mean to be creative?
I live in a dorm full of girls who love using this word.
Some embrace their creativity and dive into sketching, painting, and pottery.
Others live for Pinterest, making Mason jar soap dispensers and map-inspired
jewelry. I see girls knitting together late into the evening. I walk past a
room with a cello and sheet music on the floor. These women are writers,
artists, thespians, chefs, dancers, musicians, speakers and gatherers. These
women are makers.
If I could give this time in history a name, I’d call it the
Maker Movement. We love to create. We love expressing ourselves and getting a
piece of our personality, our being, into the world. As we figure out our
hobbies and talents, we see opportunities to be individualized and specialized.
There always seems to be room for new creations, new things to be made. We have
new songs to discover and write, new recipes to practice, new stories to
ponder. The possibilities are endless.
Maybe this is why our favorite things are handmade and
unique. We are drawn to the creative things in life because they bring
freshness. Think about it. We search for artisanal treasures on Etsy and seek
out little boutique shops in big cities because we want to be a part of
something that has new life. Something is shifting. Something is drawing us to
creativity like never before.
Again, what does it mean to be creative? As a Christian, I
can’t look at this word or its implications without thinking back to the
Creator. In this video from Amena Brown, she calls God the Creator of
Creativity. If He made all this, and I believe He did, and we are made in His
image, which I believe we are, then we are makers. We are a part of bringing
new life and creativity to this world. For those who are artists, in the
broadest sense, please make good things. Fall in love with your paints and your
recipes and your words. Dance or play in ways that refresh your audience and
make them think. Make good things. And make them because you are a part of a
world that needs new life.