I sat on my back patio, journal and pen in hand, with no words to write. As the wind whispered through my hair, I grasped for inspiration, wishing an image, a thought, a phrase would arise. But nothing came. I stared out into nature, extending out my backyard, and felt stuck. I wanted so badly to write beauty on pages, and yet all I felt was empty and dry.
Everything I had been writing of late was for a project. Each idea was turned into an article with a timestamp. Over time, I realized this sort of production approach to one of my natural talents had sucked the creativity right out of me. Somewhere in the shuffle of deadlines and the pursuit of a side income, I had lost the experience of writing for the pure joy of it. There had been a time when I could get lost in another world of thoughts, when I could write something down and not share it with the world. I would write things in my journal just for myself, and like Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire, I’d feel God’s pleasure through my craft. Oftentimes, my days would feel brighter and more invigorated as a result. I want to get back to that.
In bearing God’s image, humans share God’s creative impulse. When God made the world, He put His creativity on display, breathing to life a colorful diversity in all things. Every rare and unique plant, creature, and human is a testament to God, our Creator and King, who delights in us simply for who we are and the ways we reflect His image in the world. Moreover, after each day of creation in Genesis 1, we read that God surveyed all that He created and declared, “It is good.” God created for the purpose of beauty, goodness, and truth, and we can too. In our skills and abilities and talents, God has planted the seeds for us to co-create good and beautiful things as a form of worship to God and for His glory.
In fact, part of how we love our neighbor is through our creative calling. I love how the theologian Frederick Buechner writes, “Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need.” In other words, breathing life into our creations shouldn’t be a selfish pursuit. Rather, cultivating them is how God uses us as His hands and feet in a dark and hurting world. Through our giftings and skills, we not only imagine a better and more beautiful world, a vision of the Garden temple in Genesis that God created, but we also use our knowledge and abilities to bring that vision to reality. Through our crafted creations, whether they be in word, object, or aesthetic, we have the ability to further God’s goodness in the world. This is how we create for both our own joy and the joy of the world.
However, in our fast-paced world, it’s hard to create the good and the beautiful if everything we do is contracted and commodified. When everything we create has metrics attached, when there is something to be gained through it — whether fame, platform, or income — we miss out on our original purpose as co-creators with God Himself. That’s not to say we shouldn’t use our skills to put food on the table and have a roof over our head, but when the art of creating is reduced to mere financial transactions, our creative spark will slowly fizzle and wane.
In this new year, what if we chose to carve out more space to lean into our God-given gifts and talents and passions? What if we chose to delight in the process of creating in every paint stroke, music note, planted seed, and well-crafted sentence? Can we chase after divine beauty in the meals we prepare for our families and friends, in the ideas we share, and the relationships we build?
This year let’s return back to our first creative loves. Let’s unwrap that long hidden gem and allow our sleeping hearts to beat again with excitement and thrill. May we awaken to curiosity and delight, wonder and imagination, and join God in the cultivation of goodness, beauty, and truth.
Leave a Comment
Ruth Mills says
Michelle, “May we awaken to curiosity & delight, wonder & imagination and join God in the cultivation of goodness, beauty & truth.” is exactly what I needed this am!!! Thank you!
Michelle Reyes says
Amen, Ruth!!! I’m so encouraged by your comments. May God bless you in your creative calling this year.
Louise Galego says
Michelle,
Your piece is lyrical and so beautifully articulates the gift of our co-creativity with our God. A truly inspirational devotion for us as we go forward in this new year. Thank you.
Louise
Michelle Reyes says
Thank you, Louise! I want to lean more into seeing my craft as co-creating beauty and goodness alongside our Creator this year. May God bless your creative calling this year as well.
Maura says
I needed to hear this today. I like to do Illustrated bible journaling and sometimes that critical voice rears its ugly head making me question myself and the purpose of creating. So I will remember that God made me to create, to draw and paint my prayers.
Michelle Reyes says
I’m so glad to hear this, Maura! Illustrated Bible journaling sounds amazing. What a beautiful way to slow down, make space for God’s word, and create beauty in the world. May you feel God’s pleasure through the craft of drawing this year!
Brenda Ulman says
Frederick Buechner writes, “Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need.”
Thank you for modeling this truth through your beautifully written article – one that artists, like me, needed to hear.
“God has planted the seeds for us to co-create good and beautiful things as a form of worship to God and for His glory.” Beautiful reminder that God has called and gifted us to bring honor to Him by touching the lives of others.
Thank you, Michelle, for using your gift to touch my heart today! Will share your article with my Writer’s group!
Michelle Reyes says
Amen, Brenda! I’m so glad my words encouraged you today. Let’s keep writing and creating for God’s glory! Thanks for being willing to share this article with your writer’s group too.
kimmieg says
I love this post. I’m not exactly creative but I finished a cross stitch for a friend for Christmas and that was the quietest my mind had been in a long time.
Michelle Reyes says
That sounds wonderfully beautiful and restorative, friend. I absolutely believe God finds joy in the crafting and developing of words in all its forms!
Pearl Allard says
This is confirmation! Thank you. A friend of mine lost her baby and I made her a gift last night to take to today’s funeral… Somehow I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do. As I painted I prayed. Reading today’s post here I’m grateful to hear God’s answer through you, Michelle. May He continue to spark your work in, with, and for Him with wonder & joy.
Michelle Reyes says
Pearl, I’m so grateful for your feedback today. What a gift to make a painting for your friend in her moment of need and grief. I see this story you shared as exactly how God uses our creative calling to meet the needs of the world. Keep on crafting and creating goodness and beauty in this world, friend. What a blessing!
Becky Keife says
Friend, those questions in the second to last paragraph are so good, so timely, so needed. Thank you, Michelle.
Michelle Reyes says
Thanks so much, Becky! I’m asking these questions myself and am so excited to journey with my fellow writers, artists, and creatives to find joy and passion in this new year <3
Angie Appenheimer says
Thank you Michelle for your thoughtful and authentic piece. I love writing and reading, and last year these gifts became part of my role at work. Of course I’m grateful that I’m able to use my gifts for God, but you’re right, that spark for personal creative has dwindled. In my personal time, I lost my desire for the very things that brought me joy.
Thank you for this reminder – to refresh my perspective and approach to what brings me joy and glorifies God, as a co-creative person made in His image.
Michelle Reyes says
Angie, I love this! I’m with you 100%. I pray God guides you in rediscovering and rekindling your joy and creativity.
Beth Williams says
Michelle,
I never thought of myself as a creative type. Not crafty at all. Love love love to cook & create delicious dishes for others. Lately my hubby says I’m becoming a darn good cook. Also love to do sign language to music. I never thought of those gifts as a form of worship to God & being used for His glory. I used to lament that I didn’t have many good talents to use for God. But lately He is showing me that simply cooking up meals/dishes for others in need is loving others as I want to be loved. Today I made chicken pot pie for a co-worker (Judy) who lost her brother around Thanksgiving & whose dad is home on hospice-he has kidney cancer. Got pneumonia again last week. She works as RN 12 hrs. & is stressed out. Yes. I can co-create good & beautiful (tasty) things as a form of worship & for His glory.
Blessings 🙂
Michelle Reyes says
What a beautiful gift, Beth! Cooking is absolutely a creative calling. May God continue to bless your hands and your work this new year <3
Clarinda Fong says
Amen!! Thank you for putting into words the sacredness of creating.
Chuck McCabe says
I have done a good deal of writing (nonfiction) during my 50-year career, managing businesses. I even wrote two books as coauthor with one of my adult college degree professors to guide adults to and through college and other education options.
As the second of 9 children whose mother was committed to a state mental institution at age 42 and father was killed in a car crash 6 months later at age 45, my siblings and I each experienced significant challenges during our lives. Yet all but one sibling was very successful and accomplished, each in their own way. My mother, Eva McCabe, after 5 years in the mental institution, spent the rest of her life living and working as a housekeeper in several Catholic institutions until her death at age 92. She lived for her faith in God and always had her children in her heart and kept up with their lives.
I was going to write about my personal story of career success despite being a high school dropout until entering college at age 31. I decided instead to write a memoir titled “The Nine Children of Eva”. So far, I’ve written about 30 pages in Word based on my recollections of our family history and my significant life experiences. I’ve included headings for each of my siblings to write their stories. Three of our siblings are deceased and I plan to write their stories with the help of my remaining siblings. When it is completed, I will have it bound as a book and provide each member of our family with a copy. I hope that the memoir might get up to at least 150 pages if my siblings can write as much as I have about their key life experiences.
I don’t have a website as we sold our family businesses in 2020 and are now retired.
Nancy Ruegg says
I too felt a hearty AMEN bubbling up from my inner-creative upon reading this post, especially your concluding statement: May we awaken to curiosity and delight, wonder and imagination, and join God in the cultivation of goodness, beauty, and truth. Who wouldn’t want more of the qualities you’ve mentioned–delight, wonder, imagination, goodness, beauty, and truth? Thank you, Michelle, for beginning our year with such hope-filled inspiration!
Deborah Gebbie says
Love this! Thanks for sharing your heart.
Leslie Myers says
I was on the verge of quitting permanently from writing and haven’t written much of anything lately. After reading this today I was greatly encouraged and want to thank you for the way you are able to lift others up through your writing. This really touched my heart and I will use it as a kickstart to this new year. May God bless you mightily for the work you are doing.
Rachel Gowland says
Oh. This is so good. Thank you Dr. Reyes for the encouraging and timely reminder to create because God gave us that gift, and we get to enjoy it ourselves and share it with others!
Tracey Ebert says
Thank you so much for your article. I am a writer who writes blog posts and snippets on social media to encourage others and lift them up while keeping it real about the imperfections of life. Lately, the overwhelm of “when everything we create has metrics attached…” chasing numbers, has dulled my creativity and the pure joy I have in writing simply to write and glorify Him, nothing more. I needed this today! This is what I’ve been missing. ❤️