The 6th Day

There is not one single person in the world that was born without at least a sliver of creativity. It may have been deposited during their conception as a small seed -- obscured and untapped -- but it is there nonetheless.

Some of us are born with a knack for the performing arts: there are those of us who are gifted at singing, dancing, or acting and take to it with mastery even without formal education. The performing arts are some of the ways we express creativity with our bodies. This is certainly one of the (if not the most) flamboyant forms of creative expression.

Some of us are born with a penchant for the visual arts: there are those of us who are endowed with the creativity of translating the images we see with our physical eyes into works of visible art through paintings and sculptures. Others take what they see in their mind's eye and put it on different types of canvas, including digital ones. So many forms of visual arts have manifested in the last few decades.

Some have been blessed with the ability to be creative with numbers and its application; some with words and punctuation; some with a blackboard and a chalk; some with a sermon and a faith walk.

Countless more have been showered with any of the many other forms of creativity, which are all extensions of the Creator's ability: each one given to serve a purpose; each one -- no matter how seemingly commonplace -- significant in the grand canvas of life.

The sad thing about having such an abundance of distributed creative ability is that there seems to be a deficiency in the comprehension of its variety and manifestation, which I believe has lead to the suppression of its multiple potential expressions.

I have the same contention with people who insist that God can and will only manifest in ostentatious displays and tumultuous revelations amongst His people. Hey, I'm all for thunder and lightning if it's really definitely a sign of the Almighty's presence. However, it has been a well-known and well-documented fact that miraculous wonders can be counterfeited by the devil... and -- equally worse -- staged by the devious!

My contention here is this: God, in His infinite nature, has so many characteristics and abilities that we, finite and 'negligible' humans, have not even begun to scratch the surface of, and could never ever on this side of eternity begin to comprehend. And just because we've attained a certain revelation of one of His many magnificent 'facets', we grasp said revelation with misdirected fervor, proclaim it to the masses as the Holy Grail of all things about the Lord -- forgoing all the other times in Scripture where God has revealed other facets of Himself -- and say THIS IS THE ONLY WAY GOD WORKS! IF THIS ISN'T THE MANIFESTATION, IT'S NOT GOD!

In terms of disposition and demonstration, the Creator has been known -- and documented -- to appear, speak and relate to His sons and daughters in gentler, quieter and simpler ways. And I don't get why some people who say they "know God" do not see that and make the necessary adjustments to broaden their perspectives (*narrow minds*) in view of biblical truth. These are the types of people who end up hurting and alienating those who are truly seeking God.

This same problem extends to the recognition and celebration of the various creative gifts that God has given mankind. Because the nature of some of these gifts are more exuberant than the rest, there are people who tend to reject other forms and expressions of it -- labelling the manifestation and the person as uninspired or excruciatingly boring. Regrettably, those who live with a mindset like this are the very people who stifle and kill the creative expression of individuals who may not have been given one of the flashier gifts, but bear creative gifts just the same.

We should not extol the manifestation of great panache in the visual arts (lavishly colorful paintings on oil, absorbent or universal canvas) and deride the display of a flair for the practical arts (exquisitely crafted pieces of furniture fashioned from pieces of wood or metal). That would be foolish since both are expressions of man's God-given creativity! We should not applaud the easily-visible excellence in the performing arts (Oscars and Emmys, anyone?) while disparaging the often-concealed systematic intricacies of the accounting arts (exposed mainly when there's a financial scandal). That would be nothing short of idiocy as these creative gifts come from the same benevolent Source!

Every manifestation of a person's ability to conceptualize, visualize, concretize, verbalize, analyze, organize, monetize, improvise, and actualize is a testament to the fact that man -- fashioned by God on the sixth day of creation -- was equipped with everything he needed to live a life of not just continuous labor and struggle, but also one of joy and fruitfulness channeled through the myriad of creative expressions.

Creativity is one of God's gift to mankind that clearly displays the imprint of the Maker's "seal of approval" on each and every individual. No man or circumstance can suppress or take that away.