Do you pride yourself on being “CREATIVE?”  Can you put together a great party, shower or event? Can you take a blank piece of paper and draw something, anything, that looks similar to something else? Can you take 3 simple ingredients and make a meal out of them?

If you can do any of the above, then I consider you “CREATIVE!” I also, admire you!

As a teacher I used to commonly pronounce that I was a very good “copier.” I could observe others ideas and copy them well. It is not a hidden fact to anyone who knows me, that I can barely draw a stick figure that somewhat resembles a person. I was not personally gifted with an artistic flare!

My father however was! His handwriting to this day, remains the most beautiful I have ever come across. I have saved many cards and letters he has written, and even though he is in heaven now, I still love to take them out and look at them and read them.

He could also draw free hand and paint extremely well. His profession was a Contractor, but he still drew and painted on his truck and truck windows before it was an actual “thing!”

One of my sisters inherited his natural artistic ability, but I did not! I was in awe of the way they could look at a mountain and draw it or paint it and create something that actually seemed to come to life. My dad especially loved horses. He grew up on a farm, and when he finished playing professional baseball and settled down to run his contracting business, he bought an acre and a 1/4 of property within the city limits, but zoned for horses. I grew up with two, and at one point even three, horses in my backyard. My dad loved them, rode them and at one point decided to draw them. His painting of our horse looked almost more real than the horse itself. 

I posses, and to this day possess, many traits from my father, to my disappointment, one of them was not his artistic ability! To this day I stand in awe at Museums, art exhibits, and even school art fairs, and marvel at the ability to create something beautiful.

The realization came to me one day as I lay in the grass and looked up at the dancing leaves on our gigantic weeping willow tree. Through them, the whispey white clouds floating slowly across the clear blue sky…and then it hit me. Only the CREATOR Himself can truly create something out of nothing! What I marvel at, and is a gift given by the creator to some, is actually an excellent copy of the original.

My dad could draw and paint a horse. But he could not create the horse itself. Only God the CREATOR could do that. The best we can do is to reflect the image of what the CREATOR created in the first place.

“To whom will you compare me?

Or who is my equal?” says The Holy One.

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one,

and calls them each by name.

Because of His great power and mighty strength,

not one of them is missing…

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

 The Lord is the everlasting God,

the CREATOR of the ends of the earth.”            Isaiah 40:25-26, 28

We like to think we are creative and indeed we are prolific at making things! The list of human inventions over the last 100 years alone are phenomal! They indeed make life easier and are noteworthy. We have the ability to do this because we have been created in God’s image and we are his image bearers.

But only God Himself, The CREATOR, can create something out of nothing!

The definition of CREATE, is “to cause to exist, to bring into being.” 

God alone can truly cause something to exist that never existed before. God alone can take meaningless nothing, without form and void, and make it something significant.

Using the gifts God has put at our disposal, we as God’s image-bearers draw, paint, perform, compose, sculpt, weave, knit, cook, write, sew, and yes, even sometimes come up with something that has a fresh sound or look to it. But truly, the best creations of the image bearers are at most reminders of and reflections of our CREATOR Himself!

I love created things! I love climbing a mountain or skiing down it! I love sitting on the beach and watching the tide roll in and putting my feet in the sand as the powerful force of the water tries to drag me out to sea! I love watching the birds build a nest in my apple tree, and I love eating the sweet apples that grow on that tree! I love listening to children laugh as they play with each other on the jungle gym and I love seeing the joy in their faces as they eat sticky sweet cotton candy! In my heart I know that only the CREATOR God could bring any of this into existence. Only the CREATOR God could make any of this be!

TRUTH BOMB

ONLY GOD IS TRULY WORTHY OF THE NAME CREATOR

Today as we claim the name CREATOR for God, my prayer is that we would give Him all the glory and credit for what ONLY HE CAN DO, CREATE SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING!

Speak Truth Love