Creativity

The following is an editorial from my son's musical newsletter. We all need to be more creative and we need to teach our children to be creative. I hope this inspires you in the same way it did me.


Creative Mist

Today is a Wednesday. As I sit in my office, listening to the gentle rain tap on my window, I find myself in a sort of misty haze. I'm not sure where this unseen pressure comes from, but its something that's so comfortable and yet it makes my feet feel as though they're coated with some sort of industrial strength glue.

Inside my heart I want the sky to be blue, birds to be singing, and I want some new form of creative awesomeness to burst out of my chest. Instead, I sit here with a contemplative nature and search for words to describe this blockade of expression I'm trying to fight.

What is the definition of Creativity?

Webster's online dictionary defines Creative as:
1: marked by the ability or power to create :given to creating2: having the quality of something created rather than imitated : imaginative

In the Dictionary of Creativity: Terms, Concepts, Theories & Findings in Creativity Research, Eugene Gorny defines Creativity as having 4 structural elements;
Most definitions of creativity found in research literature include the following structural elements:
1) novelty (originality, unexpectedness) of the creative work,

2) its value (relevance, appropriateness, significance, usefulness, effectiveness).This type of definition is accepted in the recent Handbook of Creativity edited by Robert J. Sternberg (1999), an authoritative collection summarizing contemporary creativity research. Let us give a few examples. "Creativity is the ability to produce work that is both novel (i.e. original, unexpected) and appropriate (i.e. useful, adaptive concerning task constraints)" (Sternberg and Lubart, 1999:

3). "Like most definitions of creativity, ours involves novelty and value: The creative product must be new and must be given value according to some external criteria" (Gruber and Wallace, 1999: 94). "A creative idea is one that is both original and appropriate for the situation in which it occurs" (Martindale 1999: 137). "Creativity from the Western perspective can be defined as the ability to produce work that is novel and appropriate" (Lubart, 1999: 339). Another two elements often found in definitions of creativity are 3) assessment of something or someone as being creative by an authoritative body (field) according to some criteria and

4) communicativeness, i.e. communication of this value to an audience.

Just in reading these definitions of creativity, I see something I'm missing. I'm looking for something that can apply to every moment, every feeling, every political cause, every situation that breaks hearts, everything.

I'll be the first to say I'm not big enough. I don't know about you, but I love to think that there's something out there that connects to some inner creative part of my soul. That something can express what I never could with words. It happens to me a lot, I see and feel moments where I want to express something that's far bigger than who I am. There's a greater longing within me, to be part of something bigger.

Its highly possible I'm not making much sense to you, but I believe if you're looking to express something more with your life, then you know what I mean. Connecting with God in a creative way is the Only way we will ever fully satisfy our hunger. We were made to worship Him. We were made in His image, the Imago Dei is built into every cell of our human body.

Imagine connecting with God in such a way that the words we sing, the brush strokes we paint, and the words we speak not only have originality and significance, but we are deemed valuable and worthy of communicating this expression to a greater audience. We can do this, further, He wants us to share our hearts with the world.

Don't fear failure, embrace the opportunity to reach more. Disregard that mist of confusion, it will only tell you you're not worth it and you have nothing to give. Trust in the God who's the Author of Creativity and let him teach you how to make your unique sound for the world to hear.

Ken JansenCrossroads Nework
Worship Director /Freeport Campus Worship Leader


God loves you,

Debbie