First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness.
God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
-Genesis 1:1-2
The Message
We know this. We feel it just as surely as the Creator God did all those eons ago. This brooding. This musing, pondering, ruminating existence.
To create is to give rise to that which previously did not exist.
To create is the be the birth mother of words and pictures and names and places.
To create is to begin, to forge, to carve out.
And it is beautiful, and heart-wrenching, and ripe with responsibility.
Even God, who stood on the cusp of darkness and light, paused.
And God brooded.
For to sit atop all that was to come and all that ever would be was huge.
And yet, as Genesis children, we have been entrusted with the same cargo. All that is beautiful and real and faceted and frightful swells at the end of our fingertips and, consequently, there are decisions to be made and pictures to be painted and poems to be written.
We have a responsibility.
We must accept our inheritance.
We, the created, must create.
"But unless we are creators we are not fully alive."
-Madeleine L'Engle
Photo credit: webtreats on flickr
Oh Holly this is a beautiful bold and strong declaration and it sirs me up with inspiration to make and do and be, at the touch of His guiding hand. You capture a living breathing mantra for living, as He would have us live. There is a bit of an echoing of sorts at the end of your post and mine. Your words form a sort of bookend to my ending. I hear you, heard you. Yes this is so..created to create. And what a holy responsibility it is. Love your Madeline L'Engle quote. And love you. This is art. You are His artist, so faithful too. Let us create in harmony with Him.
ReplyDeleteTaking ownership of our inheritance is big. Huge. You've made me think about that word a bit more this morning. And as you know, I'm pondering stepping away from creating to remember why I create. And sighing joy in it all.
ReplyDeletethat quote is ravishing. it ties it all together. kinda reminds me of the one i used in my 'create' post: the glory of God is man fully alive. oh, to create makes us alive in the best and truest sense of the word, doesn't it? love this, holly. love you.
ReplyDeleteAren't you just so thankful that we have each other to help carry the weight of creation? It is forged into us, this need to create, and I am grateful for all the folks along the way that bring new vision and hearing and voice to the beauty. You, my friend, are one of those folks.
ReplyDeleteYes, our inheritance. What a perfect way to put it, Shelly. And what an exquisite way of looking at Sabbath practices...to rest and muse and brood, once again, as in the beginning. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteKelli,
ReplyDeleteYes, that quote IS ravishing and nails me to the wall, as well. And linked with your quote...this creating is the ultimate way to bring glory. I love it in all its richness and goodness. Thank you for sharing.
you and Madeleine are right!
ReplyDeleteWhat gorgeous imagery! I've never really thought about this before, how in our drive to create, our God-light is burning through.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Chris. Grateful for your presence here.
ReplyDeletei love how God paused before he created. that really struck me. thank you friend.
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