A cross-country move takes its toll. I know. In the last twelve years, I relocated from Michigan to Texas, back to Michigan, and then to Utah. Each of these adventures involved selling and purchasing a new home. The amount of work, coupled with sleep deprivation, caused me to dip deep into my energy reserves. So many questions appear. What will you move? What will go where? What colors? What styles? What, what, what?! Decision fatigue adds to the exhaustion. And then, Murphy’s Law comes along to play.
When circumstances cause life to fall out of balance, I am drawn to finding a few precious moments to engage in creative pursuits. In the midst of disorganization and upheaval, standing back to admire a completed work helps to correct my mental state. And since I believe wellness is holistic, I know the other parts of my whole person will benefit, as well.
Our God is the Creator Extraordinaire. Did his eyes become wide with awe as he raised the mountains and filled the seas with salt water? Did he feel great pleasure to watch light appear as he placed the sun, moon, and stars in the dark expanse of sky? I wonder what he was thinking when he formed the elephant’s trunk, the giraffe’s long neck, and the camel’s humped back. Our Creator must have enjoyed a splendid time when He created the earth and everything in it.
Then God said, Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth. God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them… Genesis 1:26-27
God decided to create humanity with a unique distinction. We bear our Creator’s image and likeness. We possess his attribute of creativity. Well, sort of. We don’t have God’s amazing power to create something from nothing. However, we do have the desire to exercise our creative abilities and know the joy of so doing.
God saw all that he had made – and it was very good! Genesis 1:31
When we use the creative aspect of our minds, we are playing, intellectually. It’s fun! We feel good about our creation. Anything we find pleasurable helps to increase the uptake of serotonin in our brains. I thank my Heavenly Father for bestowing me with this gift of creativity, this marker of his image in me. Getting creative has refreshed me and lifted me out of a pit of despair during times when life seemed to want to keep me there.
Personally, I get a lot of satisfaction from blogging. Not only the writing, but I also enjoy selecting or creating the images, and setting up the layouts. It’s great to step back from my work and think It is good!
And you? What is your creative mojo? I’d love to know.
Susi Robinson Rutz 