The book of Genesis says God created the heavens and the earth and the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. Then he created mankind and gave us authority and stewardship over the earth. He created us in His image, which I believe means in a very real and deep way that we too are born to create. We have a vast playground, broken though it may now be, in which to explore and discover.
On the days - or in the months - when I feel like i am not learning, growing, or creating, I tend to fall into lethargy. The days when I succumb to a belief that I cannot make anything, that I'm stuck, that I'm no good at what I do anyway, tend to be days spent in bed or various forms of comfortable chair. Indeed, early last year, after a series of disappointments and mistakes and setbacks, I found myself spending far too much time in such lethargy, waiting for life to happen to me.
I spent far too long in that wasteland. Eventually, frustration boiled over into action and I began to walk out of the wilderness. Experiments with photography. YouTube videos with friends. Lindy Hop lessons. Career changes.
There are yet setbacks; there are yet days where I believe the lie of uselessness and choose to lie in bed. Nevertheless, I find myself to be more fully myself as I live out that calling of God to create, discover, explore. And, somewhat paradoxically, self-focus fades away as I live the way I was created to live.
As Jeff Goins is fond of saying, "There are no big breaks, only tiny drips of effort that lead to waves of momentum."
These little steps of trying new things, of asking people to collaborate, of exploring new locations...all of it builds momentum in the journey out of the Waiting for Life to Happen Wilderness. Who knows what the future will hold?
So, friend: you are given a gift of creativity to steward and nurture. Make something today. Cook dinner. Take a photograph. Hike to a waterfall. Play with the blocks at the toy store. Draw on your napkin at happy hour. You have agency and authority to create. You can build something great, even if all you do today is lay down a single brick.
Create a work of goodness today. Make life happen.
