I have an encouraging word for you …. This has been encouraging to me, and it’s important to keep it in the forefront of my mind, because with the everyday minutiae of life it’s easy to think that my creative work hardly matters. After all, I’m just a person usually working alone in my studio… hardly a public persona or influencer! I paint, I write to my friends, I manage a website or two, I plan for the next things, I do household chores, am involved with my church and enjoy time with my family. It’s so easy to minimize what I do creatively. I think artists are very susceptible to this kind of minimization.
But let’s focus on this – creative work (whatever the medium) has a vital role. It’s not peripheral. And when we’ve been given a heart to create, we are fulfilling not just our own interests, but a path that’s been marked out for us by the One who made us. When we paint, draw, sing, chisel, shape, dance, bake, design, compose – when we make – we are taking part in a sacred work. That may sound presumptuous to some, maybe even sacrilegious. But is it?
Being creative is woven into the fabric of humanity, and it’s a reflection of our Maker who made all things. It is by embracing that and following our individual design that we honor the One who gave us the impulse, desire, and skills. Doing the things we are designed to do for the good of others is a valid description of sacred work. Of course, that means pursuit…following with intention, seeking, learning, honing. Could this be part of what is meant by this beautiful verse in scripture?
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:10)
That’s pretty personal, don’t you think!? It certainly speaks of a new kind of life by faith in Jesus, and it implies that there is something beautiful as a result. And we can infer that each of us, individually, has a design ~ a well-suited and fulfilling work that God has made us for. By doing the things we’ve been designed for, we take part in making God seen in this world. Our “work” encompasses many parts of who we are, and for the artist it means that there is high value in our art.
The next time I’m tempted to think it doesn’t matter…. This is what I’ll bring to mind. My work (regardless of whether it feels important) is highly valued and needed. I didn’t choose it, but I pursue it! And somehow, though it’s hard to imagine, God is making himself visible to someone by what I’m doing. That seems to matter a lot!
©HelenCRead
Photo Credit: Anna Kolosyok
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