“A great painting, or symphony, or play, doesn’t diminish us, but enlarges us, and we, too, want to make our own cry of affirmation to the power of creation behind the universe. This surge of creativity has nothing to do with competition, or degree of talent.” ~ M. L’Engle
A friend hosted art lessons tonight. I am not an artist … I don’t have artistic talent … but I love to dabble with shape, hue, light.
“But unless we are creators, we are not fully alive.” ~M. L’Engle
The scripture says we are created in his image … if in his likeness, then we must be imbued with a creative bent. Finding our own particular expression of that creativity without judgment is sometimes hard, especially in this era of reality shows where America votes.
An excerpt from a poem by Alexander Pope says …
First follow Nature, and your judgment frame
By her just standard, which is still the same;
Unerring Nature, still divinely bright,
One clear, unchanged, and universal light,
Life, force, and beauty must to all impart,
At once the source, and end, and test of Art.
Art from that fund each just supply provides,
Works without show, and without pomp presides.
If we don’t “professionalize” art … if instead we allow God’s creativity to flow through us … seeing with the eyes of our hearts … the natural world as he intended … we engage in a spiritual discipline that renews and energizes.
When we are writing, or painting, or composing, we are, during the time of creativity, freed from normal restrictions, and are opened to a wider world, where colors are brighter, sounds clearer, and people more wondrously complex than we normally realize. ~ M. L’Engle
