We think of creativity as something that we either have or we don’t. We think of children with crayons and potters at their wheels—but why do we reduce it and simplify it like this? Why do we act like creativity only affects one area of our life and if we aren’t in a field that we consider to be creative, why do we think we don’t need creativity?
We are the only creatures on the planet gifted with creativity. There is something special about that! As Artificial Intelligence gets more and more sophisticated, the demand for mundane jobs to handle simple tasks will start to disappear. We are coming into a time when cultivating our creativity will be more important than ever. It will be what sets us apart.
Even more than that however, utilizing and cultivating our creativity is a large way we achieve pure enjoyment in this life. I know people who think they don’t have a creative bone in their body, and some who even think they don’t need creativity! We use creativity way more than we think we do. We use it to problem solve and we use it to make things that don’t traditionally fall into the “creative” basket. We use it to derive contentment and joy in our lives.
I think the problem might be how we think about creativity. We need to stop thinking about it as if it can be compartmentalized and shut off from the other areas of our lives. Instead, we need to think of creativity as a way of enhancing the other areas of our lives. We need to expand what we think of as art and start to enjoy creating, dreaming and playing for its own sake and for the joy it bring us—not solely for the outcome these things produce in the physical sense. Below are several books I have loved when it comes to cultivating creativity.
A Million Little Ways by Emily P. Freeman
In A Million Little Ways Ms. Freeman says we need to see our lives through a more artistic lens. We need to stop the inner critic inside our minds and enjoy the fact that all of us, from engineers to janitors, were put on this earth to create in some way, shape, or form. We need to stop thinking that we couldn’t do … fill in the blank.
The Creative Habit by Thyla Thrawp
The Creative Habit by Ms.Thrawp reminded me of Steven King’s On Writing in that she does not believe in a creative block just as Mr. King does not believe in writer’s block. In this book, Ms. Thrawp offers a variety of ways to get yourself unstuck and to inspire your creativity and ways to get your creativity flowing. She shares many examples from her life when she was stuck, on a deadline, and had to get unstuck very quickly!
Called to Create by Jordan Raynor
In Called to Create Mr. Raynor gives biblical context as to why we should follow the urges of our heart and go create. Mr. Raynor also gives examples of how feeling called to create, as an entrepreneur or otherwise, is just as God-honoring as being called to be a pastor or a missionary. He shares how small companies started by solo entrepreneurs have made a big impact in the world. If you are feeling the urge to create a company or business, on whatever scale, don’t dismiss it! God may have a job specifically in mind for you!
If you decide to pick up any of these books, I hope you will feel inspired! Remember creating and creativity isn’t just about the outcome—it is about the enjoyment we derive from the process!
I think some of the most beautiful lyrics of all time are contained in some of the old carols we sing to this day. In our rote recitation of the lines we often glance right over the beauty and weight these words hold.
“A thrill of hope
a weary world rejoices
for yonder breaks
a new and glorious morn.”
How beautiful are these words? Have you ever stopped to truly listen and ponder the words of these songs? My guess is you may have given them a moment of thought at one point, before being distracted or rushing off to another task. The Christmas season is filled with to-do lists, parties, commitments, shopping and traditions to uphold. It may not only be the most wonderful time of the year—but also the busiest! This is a season from which we all feel that we need downtime afterwards in order to recover from the busyness of the season. Some people even dislike the season because of all the busyness—the decorating, the shopping… . Christmas doesn’t have to be like this though—it can be a time in which we slow down and do the things that truly bring us joy and leave us feeling recharged at the end instead of depleted but you will need to make a conscious effort to do so.
Into which group do you fall? Do you ever stop? Do you ever get still? Do you ever carve out time for the activities that mean the most to you? Do you ever let your “soul feel its worth”?
I have seen people rush from activity to activity, from party to party, and then at the end of it all say, “But I really wanted to do (fill in the blank) and I never got to this year.” This is a tragedy. I used to fill our calendar with every last Christmas activity so that all the gaps were filled, until I noticed that we weren’t getting enough of the things we really love during this season. Not enough time curled up watching Christmas movies. Not enough time enjoying wrapping gifts while listening to Christmas music. Not enough time playing games in front of the fire. We were getting all the big things in but hardly any time to enjoy the still, quiet times.
The parties are great. I love all the Christmas things, but you know what? It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you run out of time to do all the things your wanted to do. It doesn’t matter if you can’t find the perfect gift for someone. It doesn’t matter if your wrapping coordinates with your Christmas decor. What matters is if you slow down enough to keep Christmas in your heart. Because even if you have the best decorated house, the most thoughtful gifts, and attend every festivity that you possibly can, it won’t matter if you are so rushed that you hate every minute of it. This is especially true if you are a wife and mother. No one will remember what gift they did or didn’t get that one Christmas, but they will remember if you were crabby and irritable through every activity.
You do have the power to put on the brakes. You do have control over what kind of Christmas you have this year. You have the power to slow down just enough to let the season soak in. You have the power to do the things that nourish your soul, that make it come alive, that allows your “soul to feel its worth”.
This Christmas will come and go, another year will end, another will arrive. Time will keep its frenetic pace. But will you notice any of it? Will you get more than one day to enjoy the season? I hope that you do. I hope that this Christmas will work as a Sabbath for you; that it will be a time when you slow down enough to focus on what matters most as we head into the new year, and that you will feel rested and not depleted from the holiday season. Let’s re-examine our priorities and focus on what matters most to us in the year ahead.
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There are two times of the year when I am especially focused on the founding of our country. These times are Indepence Day and Thanksgiving. I think about how there was fellowship between the Pilgrims and Native Americans way back in 1621. How the Native Americans stepped up to help the Pilgrims, and how they learned from each other. I think about how our country has changed and been shaped over the nearly 400 years since. I think how much fellowship between people has fallen by the wayside more than we should have ever allowed.
I was talking with an elderly neighbor the other day and she told me of her life growing up in the late 1930s and early 1940s. She grew up in an immigrant mining town, of which, her mother was the postmaster. By nature in this immigrant town, many of the adults didn’t speak fluent english. As their children grew and sought to better their futures they needed help filling out college applications. This woman’s mother would help them to fill out the paperwork correctly. On Saturdays she would make hot donuts to share with their community and the little post office would become crowded with people. This woman built community. She didn’t let a need go unanswered, she stepped up and pulled her weight and did what she could.
A little while ago I stopped by a family owned farm market and greenhouse. The owner was there, an older gentleman who announced that he had been there since 1948! He took the time to explain to me where everything in the little shop was sourced, the values they hold as a business, and he answered my questions. His friendliness made me a loyal shopper!
Every year the day after Christmas my husband and I have a little date day. We pick a small town with a quaint downtown or main street we want to explore and we make a day of it! We get coffee, and hit the streets poking our heads into neat little shops and enjoying the last of the holiday season in local small businesses.
This year has been a very tough year for so many small businesses. It has been a rough year for our country here in America as racial, political, and gender differences have been exacerbated and tensions are high. Have we forgotten that amidst all of our differences we have similarities too? Have we forgotten that we are all Americans, people, neighbors, and family members? Have we forgotten that we need to remember our similarities to bind us, not our differences that separate us. We need to bring back the sense of community to our country, where we looked out for each other as neighbors.
I encourage you this holiday season; before you click the one click ordering on Amazon; to get out if you can, and from home if you can’t, and look around to see what small businesses in your community you can support this holiday season. Is there a food bank you can donate your time or money to? Is there a local business you can buy your tree or a wreath from? Is there a local bakery that is struggling that you could order Christmas goodies from? What ways can we step up as a community and amidst all of our differences pull together as the Pilgrims and Native Americans did all those years ago?
It is October here in Pennsylvania—one of the most beautiful times of the year. The leaves reach their peak color turning hues of bright red, vibrant orange, and golden yellow. The days are mild, blending into crisp evenings. The natural world sheds its elaborate outer skin bearing the bones beneath; the tree branches and the spent stalks of flowers will soon glisten in their frost-coated glory.
I am always hit with a touch of nostalgia at this time of year, an almost melancholic air settles over me but not in a bad way. I want to drink in every golden drop of sunshine and store it away within me for the gray days that lie ahead. I want to walk through corn mazes and remember past harvests when life would then slow down. This is a time of year that makes me want to slow down and cocoon myself indoors—curled up before a crackling fire with a delectable cup of tea or hot chocolate and lose myself in a captivating read. I want to light candles, pull out throws and blankets, and maybe even play a game of backgammon on the living room floor. These things make me feel more warm and cozy rather than sad and empty. It is an awareness that time is passing, and will continue to pass, but for a short while it seems to slow slightly, allowing us to take a moment to breathe it in—if we are watching for it.
What a wonderful time of year to observe the slowing of the natural world. How much more wonderful when we allow ourselves to bask in the slowness of the season. It is restorative to slow down with the season and reemerge rested and ready to embrace a new season. It wasn’t so long ago that we worked furiously in spring and summer; we would started to unwind after a busy harvest season, and then be stilled in winter. How did it happen that every season became as busy as the one before it and the one after? We were made to have busy seasons bursting with life and activity and to have slow seasons; but, when did we decide that we could thrive without pausing to notice that change is happening, that we don’t need to unwind, that we don’t need to rest? What do we gain, truly, by pushing and forcing every season to be the same? Perhaps a better question is how much do we miss by pushing through the seasons of our lives, acting as if each season is uniform.
We rush and we hustle, forgetting that rest is not superfluous. We need time to feel the seasons, both in the natural world and in our personal worlds as well. We need space and time to process life, to relax, to reflect, and to be filled and inspired for the next season. We need time to feel the weight of the seasons, to evaluate whether this is really the life we want to live and are meant to be living. For what is our life worth if we get to the end only to realize that this is not the life we wanted to live and realize that we have used our time unwisely, without taking the time to slow down and consider the seasons of life—and now there is no time to change course.
This autumn, whatever autumn may look like for you, I encourage you to slow down, rest up, and absorb all the delightful scents and occasions this season has to offer. Let’s slow down and take advantage of opportunities in which precious memories can be created with the special people in our lives so that when we get to the end we will be able to reminisce and take comfort in those memories. May we remember that the seasons will come and go, the world will keep turning, but there is no promise that we will be here to enjoy it “next year,” so let’s focus on enjoying today.
I have long held the belief that time is but an illusion. Time is not reality, it is merely what gives shape to our reality.
I’m not sure when exactly this idea came to me, I think it was in whichever grade that we learned about Einstein’s theory of relativity, and the idea of time bending. I’m not much up on the science of today to know what the current thought is regarding Einstein’s theory, but I do know it shaped my own theory on time—that time is but an illusion.
We act like all time is equal but is that really true? Is the same hour spent in total frustration trying to figure out where a math error occurred in your checkbook equal to an hour that flies by while laughing and sharing a good meal with friends and family? If our perception equals reality and we perceive an hour spent with loved ones as shorter than an hour spent in frustration, is it really the same thing?
At the beginning of this year my “word” for the year, if you will, or rather my focus was on enough. Not plenty, but enough. Enough of what is needed—the contentment that comes with enough without the scarcity of falling short, while needs are still being met. Enough for what is needed without the gluttonous feeling of too much. Like Goldilocks and the three bears, not too little, not too much, but just the right amount. Just enough. And so I told myself there would be enough time this year for the things that are most important.
This time of year, when summer is quickly sliding into fall, and schools are starting, the sunlight shifts, is when I am always tempted to say, “There just isn’t enough time!” There are always more things I want to do each summer; more hikes to take, more activities to do, more days reading in the sun. I want more! There isn’t enough time to enjoy everything the season has to offer.
Intellectually, we know that there will always be more things we want to do. We know we won’t get to everything, but that doesn’t stop us from still trying to do everything. In the past I have told myself this; I’ve reminded myself to let the unrealistic expectations float on by and, while that has helped some, I still have always found myself partially panicked thinking there just isn’t enough!
This year though I am telling myself that there is enough. There is enough time to do the things that are truly important. There is enough time to slow down and immerse myself in the moment before I look back and think, “That was fun, why didn’t I enjoy it more?”
There is time enough to slow down the moments that mean the most to us, to drink the moment in, and to make time bend and stretch for us until we have breathed in the moment and can thus release it to the ether to live on in our memories. Then the next time we are stuck at a task we despise, we can recall this memory to give us a light reprieve and allow ourselves to be immersed in the reliving of this memory once again—allowing time to stretch and bend for us once more. There is just enough time in each of these moments for us to capture them and store them away in our soul so that we will not be robbed of the moments that we want to last forever. Through our memories we can recall and relive these moments over and over again, stretching that moment on and on. If time is but an illusion, then reality is that we will keep things stored within our hearts forever and that moment will never really fade away.
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And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm . . .
Deut. 5:15
Happy Independence Day! In America it is the 245th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, when what was to become America first made her break with England. I love the 4th of July holiday. I know—I realize I love just about every holiday, but Independence Day is especially special to me.
Growing up I loved reading historical fiction and my favorite was always the historical fiction set at the time of the Revolutionary War. There is just something dashing and romantic about a nation coming into being, something about 13 little undeveloped colonies saying they believe in their freedom and independence so much that they were willing to sacrifice all they held dear, to take on the strongest nation in the world, for the chance—a slim chance—of having total freedom, both religious and financial.
We largely ignore how close to complete defeat we were for most of the Revolutionary War. We barely made it. There were many, many times when the colonists gained a victory not through their own strength, but rather through acts of God, when nature would cooperate at just the right time and just long enough for the colonists to escape, or just long enough to set up armaments before the British would realize what was happening.
There are so many things that should not have aligned but for divine intervention. God used those 56 men who were willing to sacrifice everything to birth this nation. They committed high treason. If they had been caught by the British, they were dead men. Still they willingly forged ahead, debating and negotiating among themselves for days on end, culminating in the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a document that would go down in history as one of the most pivotal documents of all time. How intelligent and brave these men were!
This Independence Day, let’s pause and remember what these ordinary men, that God used in an extraordinary way, did and thank God for this great nation and for the blessings He has bestowed upon her. If America would like to remain a great nation, America must remember her great God, for there is no freedom but through Him.
