I can’t tell you the number of times I have heard someone say, “I am not creative.” I had never really thought about it, but rather just accepted what they were saying. Most people use the phrase in the context of decorating or crafts. They somehow have gotten it into their brains that they “can’t” create. And now, they speak it over and over as their accepted lot in life
I never hear any of my African friends say things like this about themselves. Quite honestly, I have never heard them criticize themselves or anyone else for that matter. Maybe I miss it since I am not a fluent in Swahili. Or maybe, just maybe, they don’t do it at all?
Guess what I have seen over and over in Africa: Creativity!
- I have watched women creatively carry multiple items balanced on their heads while carrying babies on their backs.
- I have seen them use an old soda bottle to store their “fresh from the hive” honey.
- I have seen old burlap bags used for corn or rice become carrying pouches.
- I have read of a young boy using discarded scrap metal to create a windmill to power things in his mud hut home. (Look for the book, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.”)
- And, I have watched children create little water jug and cardboard toy cars and trucks made from old boxes and pulled by scrap string. With lids from soda bottles as wheels and miniature front axels that turn, their handmade toys entertain.
When describing my African friends, “resourceful and creative” are always part of my description. I have seen it and I know that they are made in His image. Creativity is part of who He is. Creativity is part of who they are. And if we could put aside the lies of the enemy, and go back to the beginning, to who we were created to be, I am certain a “creative” mind is something that was there at the start.
Resourcefulness often stems from necessity, perhaps handed down from generation to generation. Maybe even inspired by dreams. But whatever the beginning, creativity seems to stay with them. Pablo Picaso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” One could almost make that quote fit in this situation by changing a few words: “Everyone is born creative. The problem is how to remain that way once he grows up.”
Genesis 1:27 “God created mankind in his own image.”
You were made like HIM!
As you go through today, keep that in mind.
Create!
Be creative at work.
Be creative at home.
Be creative with your friends.
And remember: it is in His likeness that you were created by HIM with the gift of creativity!
—Lisa Brodie