It seems to me odd that Christians are often labelled as boring. That our lives could be thought of as dull and uninteresting. Shouldn’t the opposite be true?
In my last post, I mentioned the well that we are invited to dive into when Jesus calls us to follow him, and then again day by day, as he beckons us onward and upwards in our discipleship. There are many words I could use to describe such a life. However, boring is not one of them.
But do we appear boring? Are we? Sometimes?
I wonder if we easily settle into a rhythm of life that is monotonous because such a life is easier to maintain. When we have a pattern, a schedule, a way of doing things, it is far easier to just continue doing them.
Creativity takes time, imagination, and inspiration. The effort involved can be mountainous, perhaps it can appear unsurpassable.
But, can we afford to do anything less?
Our God is anything but boring. He is incredible in his creativity, for he breathes life in each word that he speaks. And the life He brings is colourful, breathtaking, magnificent, beautiful and enchanting. I need just look around me to gasp in wonder at the beauty he loves to create. I am amazed by the intricacy of what I see. The fact that I can look deeper and deeper and still find more and more to marvel at.
Furthermore, even when he creates things that are alike, they are always different. Each sunset, sunrise, snowflake, flower, animal, river, person, … the list is endless.
As I personally involve myself in creative acts, I am captured by the heart of God. For it seems that he delights in the creativity of his children. I see this mirrored in the joy I find when my children create something, anything, and the way that I marvel and take great delight in what they make. In the same way, I feel, God delights in the creativity of his children.
It is as if when I paint, or write, or partake in any creative act, I am swept into the fellowship of the Trinitarian God. He delights as I create and joins me in it. Breathing his life into what is made so that it takes on a life of its own. It becomes more than the sum of its part as the Word who spoke the world into being speaks over the fumbling attempts of his children and brings beauty and wonder to what they make.
That is not to say that all creative acts need to be masterpieces, truthfully I feel the same way about seemingly mundane tasks like cleaning and bringing order to chaos. The simple act of planting a seed. Or putting together some kit-set furniture.
Nor is this a criticism of any particular job or vocation, for no matter what we do, we have a choice in the way we approach it. Whether we bring artistry into what we do.
For several years, a group of us ran evenings once a month at our church. These evenings were called ‘Evenings with Jesus’, and in them, we aimed to provide a space where people could come and spend time in God’s presence. The hope was always to gift people an hour once a month where they could come to a distraction-free space, where all the work had been done for them and where they could simply encounter God. I do not know how successful those nights were (for such a thing is endlessly difficult to assess) and earlier this year I felt very strongly that they needed to stop to make way for something new.
The thing that I loved most about the Evenings with Jesus was the planning. Now that may sound odd to any of you who have spent any time planning in church circles. I too have sat through my fair share of endlessly boring meetings in which you felt that while a ball was being knocked about the room, there was a distinct lack of divine inspiration.
These meetings were different. Most times, we met me had no idea what we should do. Sometimes we had a vague clue, some small though completely undeveloped idea of where we could begin. But, regardless, every single time as we met, and prayed, I was blown away by the creativity of our incredible God. There was a deep sense of the leading of the Holy Spirit. We always ended with a plan which was far better than anything we could have come up with ourselves. And it was a joy and delight to come away knowing that we had been swept into the presence of God himself.
I long to live a life that carries the breath of God. I long to be a person who brings life and beauty everywhere that I go.
May we not settle for the easy, or the boring. Instead let us be a kingdom of poets, architects, musicians, artists, gardeners, authors, builders, carpenters, cooks, sewers and bakers, to name but a few. Regardless of whether we must embrace these things outside of our paid employment. And no matter what tasks fill our every day may we joyfully learn from the Master of all things himself as we watch him at work. Let us fill the world with creativity, mystery and wonder.
Father, Son, Spirit – our wonderful Trinitarian God! Thank you that you are anything but boring. May you sweep us into your presence and may we live lives of creativity as we marvel at who you are. May you breathe your life into us, and may we, in turn, breathe life into our world. Amen
Are you too often amazed by the creativity of our wonderful God? How does this affect your life? In what ways do you join God in the creative process?
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