“I wasn’t born creative.”
That’s a lie many of us believe and say. You were born creative. Kids are born creative and I assume you were once a kid. Kids can turn a box into a space ship. They can turn a comb into a microphone. When they run on the football field they turn into Adrian Peterson. When they sing they are Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber (and my four year old believes she’s Psy). There is no limit to what their imagination can conceive.
I think creativity begins to die in kids when we tell them the way they are creating is wrong and our way is right. Maybe the answers to our problems are found outside the lines. Maybe the sun needs to be painted blue for new perspective. Perhaps grass should grow from the ceiling to change our view on things. Maybe men should have wings to reach the heights God has called us to. Perhaps their version of the lyrics to that song are what we need to hear what the Divine is trying to get us to hear.
Nothing is impossible to a child. Children see it with their mind’s eye and believe it is possible. We adults come along and crush it with our limited knowledge of “reality”. Our feeble minds with finite understanding masquerade as genius. Our revelation of our own world is so small, so broken.
I once watched a group of preteen boys walk thru a mall and exclaim at each store window “I claim that toy” and “I claim that video game”. Another said “I claim that whole store” to which another quick-witted boy shouted “I claim the whole world”. Oh that we would empower a generation that would utilize their God-given creativity to claim the world.
What can I do Lord to admonish and cherish creativity in your children? What are we doing wrong?