On Creativity

The following thoughts are taken from my presentation Creativity, A gift worth using.

Do you ever have ideas about how something works, how to make it better, or just to make something? A friend of mine commented one time that she'd like to get inside my head some time because I bounce many of my ideas -and there are lots- off her. For some reason I get crazy ideas all of the time for a solution to a problem, a poem, a song, a story, or something to draw. It's almost like there's an innate something in me that longs to create.

Fortunately, I am surrounded by fellow creatives, and have been for a long time. My former worship pastor and friend, Randy, is one of those guys who is constantly creating, pushing the envelope. He has taken this desire to new heights, building networks of creativity-minded people. Many of my closest college friends were highly creative, sometimes it was constructive, like in drama and comedy; others it was downright destructive, involving explosives in close proximity to ourselves.

Into adulthood, some of my closest friends and strongest influences are highly creative. Barry, for instance, makes expressive spiritual art from found objects like broomsticks, marbles and tin barrels. Other friends express themselves through music, language, writing, business, and various other media.

Men and women from across the world, in all cultures, throughout time feel that drive to create. It is almost, if not absolutely, inherent in our species. What drives a prehistoric person to make pigment and paint his kill on the wall of a cave, or a monk to build intricate designs in sand, or a shepherd to play his stringed instrument? It is more than a subtle urge. It is the outflow of the creative spirit of the One in whose image we are made.

Consider the first verses of the Bible:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Here in Genesis we see that our universe begins as God's creation.