The Joy of Creativity

Benedicamus Domino!

I am slowly coming to believe that we all are creative, we all seek to make, to bring into being, something new and never seen before. Just because we might not have an artistic bent, does it then follow that we must consider ourselves barren of this creative spark? Is creating simply and solely the province of those who work with brush or chisel, piano or pen? I say no, for living can be an art as well. Living can be about creating something beautiful. Sometimes it involves chipping away rough edges. Sometimes it's about piecing broken shards back together! Whatever task we're engaged in at the moment should be generative, should be creative. How would it be if we actually learn to view our lives as works of art, as things continually being made at every moment? What if we learn to see the things which detract from the beauty inherent in us and, rather than letting them consume us, we simply acknowledge them and then set about the task of fixing them? Of course, it takes other eyes than ours to truly show us these things. It takes our Creator to show us how to take a hand in His artistry and to allow Him to restore us to the glory which only He truly knows, and therein lies the difficulty. This restoration might seem painful to us. He might strip away layers which we thought beautiful at first but which He knows would smudge our true beauty. How do we let Him do this? How do we let go of the fear of change?

For everyone, this answer will be different, but it must happen and keep happening. Every time we seek to hold onto things which would weigh us down, which would dull the colours of our lives, we must remind ourselves that our Creator seeks to beautify, to reveal beauty rather than to destroy it. If His fiery hand seems to consume us, we must remember that it seeks to consume the dross and to leave us the gold. Christ wishes our joy to be full. Imagine what it must be like to truly live in the fullness of joy! It must be beautiful and terrible beyond telling! It must be beyond all fears and all affections! It must be a continual shimmering music which strikes the soul like kindling fire and causes it to be caught up into the endless singing! It must truly be ecstasy!

I believe that I have heard the merest faint echo of the sound of that joy. It came to me yesterday in the form of a new song, and here it is. It waited a whole year to be born, and now it has come. Glory to God for all things! It is a setting of the Hopkins poem "Heaven-Haven (A Nun Takes the Veil."

Sara Hillis - Heaven-Haven (A Nun Takes the Veil)

Deo Gratias!