The Beginning of Our Story

Remind us if we ever forget! Stories might inspire. But stories that have been lived, real and raw stories, that, is what hits the heart the most. At some point we might realise that other peoples stories inspire us to create and to dream. Especially when they are told through movies, because they create a feeling of a life and a situation. And then it seems that different kinds of feelings and encounters inspires different kinds of creative outlets within us. At least, I have found that to be true in my own life.

The first creative outlet that I found was songwriting. What inspired me the most in that, was pain. Loneliness, actually. Looking back, I've noticed that the songs I would write stemmed from:

1. Pain

2. Grief

3. Heartache

And feeling content in those feelings.

My way of letting it out to God was writing about it and seeing how He was the only one who could mend me. Which He did!

Another creative outlet I found was painting! Though, that was different. Painting was my fun little thing! A place of exploration. I would just ask the Holy Spirit which colors to use, do random things and see what happened. A peek into what my mind would look like: Hmm, some blue there, gold there, white! That'll give some nice color variations. Maybe some green? And a splash of water of course! We always like us some living water!

Dancing is definitely my biggest creative outlet. It has carried different kinds of meaning to me, in different times of life. Sometimes it would be like my songs. Other times it would be like the painting. And then as I grew up it became even more. It became a place of worship. Dancing with Jesus. And if that wasn't awesome enough already - it also became a place to lead others in worship. A place of prayer. A way to declare God's goodness or mercy or freedom in a room, and to let that visual flow, hopefully even into peoples lives.

Creativity can be so much! There is such a fullness in creating, because we can use our logic, creativity, all kinds of feelings and all of our senses. We can use our knowledge and process emotions or situations. We get to explore, express and eventually realise that, I was made by God, in His image. He who is the Creator of everything! And then, maybe we'll realise that "Perhaps I was made to create?" (a line from one of my old songs, just to go a little full circle)

I remember meeting people who'd tell me they couldn't do this or that, because "I'm not creative!"

They would be gamers, or IT-lovers or would love playing board games. Looking back now I keep thinking "BUT ISN'T THAT CREATIVE?!?!?!??!!!! You have to be creative in that!" and today I wonder if everything we do is creative, if you look at it in the right way. Say you're a surgeon, wouldn't that line of work be creative as well? I do realise it might not be how we view creativity today, but if you really think about it it- going for a run can be creative! Take a new route, run in a funny way, speed up or speed down, run on different kinds of ground. The way we dress is creative. The way we think is creative - we look for solutions! That's creativity! I realise not every mind operates in the same way - but I believe there is a LOT of creativity in all of us when we just realise in what way we are creative. Can't we be creative when vacuum cleaning?