Creativity and Art
Expressions from the Creative Source within us.
Related topics: Christian Music, For Reflection, Life of Worship, Spiritual Practice
LATEST POSTS
the #codexinstagramus initiative: a bible photography project
What if you could only use pictures to tell the story of the Gospel? I've been thinking a great deal about Luke, the writer of his Gospel and the Book of Acts. The influence of his writing is unquestionable. But one thing most people don't know about him is that he...
three musicians you should know
I'm trying to come down from a Frio River high after four days at Laity Lodge in the Hill Country of Texas with members of The High Calling. On second thought, I don't want to come down. I want to immerse myself in the sounds of running water and a crackling fire,...
for those who think you need to have creativity all figured out
I had an art teacher in elementary school named Mrs. Barnhorse. Actually that probably wasn’t her name, because Barnhorse? Really? But that’s how I remember it. She always took great care to explain our next art project, moving methodically through each step,...
you are a creative
Henri Matisse once said, "Creativity takes courage." Courage runs in short supply with me. I am much less brave outwardly, than I am in my own head. But like anything else, creativity can be practiced. It's like a muscle we have that when unused, turns slack. At...
when jealousy visits
Jealousy is one of the occupational hazards of being a writer, and the most degrading. And I, who have been the Leona Helmsley of jealousy, have come to believe that the only things that help ease or transform it are (a) getting older, (b) talking about it until...
the eyes of an artist
"If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes, that is to say like artists, we must see not just their faces but the life behind and within their faces. Here it is love that is...
what are we waiting for?
I almost missed it, but it’s been one of those weeks, and the very last proverbial bump-in-the-road is a 2-inch incision with eleven stitches across the back of my shoulder. Rest and don’t get hot and sweaty, the doctor tells me. Down here at the edge of the hot...
giving yourself permission to create
My mother helped make me an artist because she taught me to see as one struck by wonder. Through her eyes, I first treasured thistle's down and oak's curved limb, leaf's shadow and bird's wing, the shapes of clouds and the kind of smiles made only with eyes. My...
creating room for impulse
I hadn’t left the house in three days. My kids morphed into independence overnight and what I was cooking for dinner became the highlight of my week. When writing turned into a meaningless task, I knew I was in trouble. In Julia Cameron’s words I had “overfished...
lee daniels’ the butler: some reflections
My parents moved from the Detroit area to buy four small rustic cabins on a lake in northern lower Michigan and later built a six-room motel. Our little house's screened-in porch (that I painted chartreuse when my folks were away) served as the office. I can still...
reflections on beauty and lessons learned too late
Every year for Christmas, she'd give us roughly the same thing. My sister and I would sneer and groan at the oversize art books on "how to draw faces" like the ones you'd see in a Michelangelo painting. One time, my giant book came tucked inside a black...
why bloggers need your feedback
I decided to start blogging after sitting through a frustrating board meeting. After hours of listening to the founding member of a new ministry share ideas that seemed incomprehensibly irrelevant, it ignited a fire inside me. I realized that if a leader doesn’t...
a world of wonder, and a fragrance of redemption
The air breathes cool through the open window, wafts past the “clean cotton” Yankee Candle votive that releases just a hint of fragrance. The shrub sways in time with the bell rope, and a hummingbird buzzes at the feeder, hovers in place, sips and savors. A...