I am speaking at a MOPS group tomorrow about creativity.
As I prepare my message I am so aware of how many people do not think they are creative because of fear and intimidation about what others will say about their pursuits.
Can you remember the first time you realised, that maybe you weren’t that good at something creative?
Humanity, our brokenness, comparison, competition…
Negative words spoken over our lives that are not true…
Our creativity is often the first part of our lives, that is affected when are worried about what other people think.
Very quickly, we start to question and doubt our abilities.
As a child we are transformed from these young girls, who dance freely around the kitchen whenever music is played, to women who are uncomfortable that we may look silly or childish or fat.
As a young child, we play up to the camera, wanting someone, anyone to take our photo, we smile, we play, we react to the camera and then one day we become shy and worry about whether I am good looking enough, what I am wearing is okay, what others will think of my outfit.
As young children we cook with delight, making the most terrible breakfasts for our mums in bed, with cold toast and burnt coffee, but we are so proud, as we grow older we become afraid of inviting guests over for dinner, because my food isn’t up to ‘masterchef standard.’
We draw, scribble, outside of the lines as a toddler and preschooler and then we hear negative word, one after another at school that we cant paint the sky purple, that girls must like butterflies and boys trucks and our creativity is year after year squashed into a place of perfection.
We are terrified at looking at a blank canvas, because what if I produce something that is not good enough and someone laughs at me.
Our creativity, goes from being so satisfying to a terrifying land of imperfection and drivenness to be amazing and over the top.
In the midst of our lives as women, the busier we get, the more we neglect the simple things, the more we neglect the languages of our heart (creative stuff) to the too hard basket. Whether we have a cupboard full of material offcuts, a big box of wool that we used to delight in, cookbook upon cookbook that we ignore, a plan for the garden that we just never get too, a dream to take photos, a niggle in our heart to write…
Remember what it was like to be a young child who was free and able to express themselves without judgement and fear?
How can you recapture those moments?
How can you create again without worrying what others may think?
How can you confront those feelings of lack?
In the beginning God created and his initial response was…
It is good.
Can we also do this again, finding satisfaction in our uniqueness rather than comparing ourselves to others perfection?
