The one with the home made elephant

My daughter amazed me recently. She asked for some card which I gave her, she came back and asked for some glue and stickers and what you see in the picture is the finished result. She is only 5 and when I asked her how she knew what to do she said that she had seen Mr Maker make one. Watch his creation here.

My daughter is a creative genius. Mr Maker’s is an elephant, but it is also very different. My little girl had taken a concept and then developed it into something amazing to the point where I was amazed how good the end result was. She is always coming back from school with models that she has made and she is fantastic at creating things and working independently.

This all reminded me that we are made in the image or likeness of God. God is the creator and so part of being made in his image must mean that we all have the ability to be creative.

The day I got 3% in an art exam (and I tried really hard) I decided (and my art teacher agreed) that I wasn’t very at all creative. I lived with this belief for years but then I met someone who believes that everyone is creative. I disagreed with him at first but after a long conversation he won me over. I can’t paint or draw, but I use a lot of imagery both in visual forms and in the way I tell stories to communicate. I use games in church services to help people to learn, in those games as people participate or watch the principle that we are learning about is being demonstrated. You can read here about how we used Kerplunk in this way.  I am very creative, but I needed to stop looking at myself negatively and discover the right tools and supports in order to express myself.

It’s ironic that something that is perhaps one of my greatest strengths is also something I didn’t believe that I could do for a long time.

How about you? How are you creative? What dreams have you given up on because you were told you can’t? Perhaps like me you just need a different approach?

My prayer is that we would all see how valuable we are and that we would realize that we are created in the likeness of a creative God who loves us. I also pray that he would give us courage to enjoy our life as we express the creativity that he has given us.