Creativity: 2025 Goal

Mom likes to say, “My son is the artist, the creative one.” Decades ago, she framed a tree sketch that Paul had drawn in art class. There it hung for years. Back in her younger days, Mom painted. She was proud that at least one of her children had a creative streak.

Thirteen years ago, I started paper crafting. I started with scrapbooking and then went from there. Leaving handmade 6×6 verse cards with patients, I discovered, encouraged them. And, creating them encouraged me too! Creating relaxed and restored me after a hectic day as a chaplain. (Let’s be real here; many of us have created hundreds of meals and baked goods. However, trouble begins when we eat too many of our food creations. So, switching to paper creations did not add to my caloric intake! Actually, running up and down the stairs to the “Craft Cave” burned calories.)

As Scripture teaches us, we are made in the image of God. Our Heavenly Father astounds us with His creativity: from elephants to dolphins to a praying mantis and from an amaryllis to a lily to a cape jasmine. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1 NIV).

In a world that is filled with death, destruction, and chaos, creating is a strong antidote in restoring balance to our hearts and souls. We remember that Christ said: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b). Creating is actually giving life to a thought, to an idea, to beauty. All of us would benefit by making creativity a goal for 2025.

Professor and podcaster Brene Brown states, “Creativity is the way I share my soul with the world” (TED Talk: “The Power of Vulnerability”). Dorothy Parker, fiction writer and poet, said, “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it; they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye.”

We all have the potential to create things: from woodworking to painting, cardmaking, songwriting, making music, photographing, stenciling, coloring, making pottery, cross stitching, quilting, blogging, gardening, writing, sewing, knitting, canning, to crocheting. A quote attributed to author Robin Winks is “A creative adult is the child who survived; in fact, it is not a hobby but a way of life.” Making everything around us beautiful can become a way of life that brings joy to others and ourselves. To paraphrase Edgar Degas: art is not about what we see, but what we help others see.

Jesus, the Son of God, was a carpenter while on earth. Woudn’t we love to experience the handmade gifts He gave His family? Just as we hang our grandchildren’s creations on our fridges, so Joseph and Mary probably displayed their oldest Son’s artwork.

Even now Scripture tells us that Jesus is preparing a place for believers in heaven. And He starts with giving those who trust in Him alone for salvation with a new body.” Philippians 3:20-21 states: “The Lord Jesus Christ will change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body” (WBT). Scripture states He is also preparing “a new heaven and a new earth” and a place for us to live (Revelation 21:1). In Revelation, we read amazing descriptions of heaven that include: crystal, diamonds, emeralds, jasper, and all manner of precious stones (Revelation 21:19-20). His creative, divine, and holy imagination is preparing a life truly beyond our human comprehension.

We, as His image bearers, find motivation in God’s consistent ways of transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Look how He works and changes lives around the globe.

Consider taking up the “Creativity Challenge of 2025.” It is an investment in time and beauty. And, as we craft, listen to a book of the Bible on YouTube. I personally appreciate either the NIV or ESV dramatized Bible. Turning off the news and the negativity that surrounds modern life and making something restores in ways we often cannot put into words! As Ephesians 2:10 states, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (ESV). Creativity is God’s gift to us; what we do with it is our gift to Him! Happy and Creative New Year to all!

-Rebecca Logan is a retired, but still very active, UPMC Chaplain and member of Lycoming Valley Baptist Church