Creative like you?

I make crafts items for a hobby. It gives me an opportunity to express imagination and individuality. And, of course, when someone appreciates what I make it's really gratifying.

One of the comments I receive most often from customers is "I wish I could be creative like you."

Creativity is something we ALL possess, although we may or may not recognize it. Creativity comes to us from God. One synonym for God is Soul. And Soul encompasses such qualities as creativity, originality, and inspiration. Since we are made in God's image and likeness, we possess those qualities within and are able to express them.

The last time I visited the United States, I spotted a gift shop late one evening, while my husband and I

were out walking. The next morning

we paid a visit first up. Well, I can

only describe it as a feast for the

eyes. Everywhere you looked, there were whimsical touches - clouds painted on the ceiling, a little bubbling brook, a footbridge. And I recall leaves affixed to the walls as well.

"What sort of background does the owner have?" I asked the sales person, assuming he or she must be an artist.

"Actually, she was in banking," the woman laughed. "She got tired of the rat race on Wall Street and decided to do something different."

People often branch out into areas different from their original career path. This isn't surprising when we think of God's unlimited ways of expressing Himself through us.

"Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational processes. It possesses of itself all beauty and poetry, and the power of expressing them," wrote Mary Baker Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pg. 89). Mind is another synonym for God, indicating a supreme intelligence and wisdom. While that gift shop owner may not have had any formal artistic training, she obviously drew on qualities of Soul and Mind to transform her shop into something quite special.

Many of the things we do in day-to-day life actually are creative. How about setting a beautiful table for guests or coming up with a new and better way of doing something at the office or in the home? I enjoy looking through home furnishings magazines to see how the editors have come up with innovative decorating ideas. They are expressing God when they do that. All of these accomplishments express an innate creativity and imagination. And when anyone turns to think of God, God gives the needed ideas and inspiration for whatever project we might be working on.

Getting in touch with our spiritual nature opens up the flow of good, which comes in all different sizes and shapes, and in ways we might never have predicted. The more we learn about God, the more we learn about ourselves and our capabilities. It's a discovery process.

Sometimes when I'm looking for a new idea for a craft item, I just go with my first inspiration, and then the ideas begin to flow. If suddenly I'm stumped (writers' block would be the literary equivalent) I'll let it rest. Soul/Mind/God never sleeps, and there is no stoppage of good. I know the ideas will come eventually.

God made us each whole and perfect and balanced. We are not deficient in any area of expression. In my husband's international oil-trading days, he was well known in the industry for being a highly creative thinker and problem solver. When faced with what appeared to be insurmountable challenges, he would come up with interesting and original answers. And believe me, there were many situations where millions of dollars were at stake and the pressure was on full blast! But through turning to God for ideas, he found successful resolutions.

Here's something that just might help break down some of your preconceived limitations about your abilities: "Man reflects infinity, and this reflection is the true idea of God. God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis" (Science and Health, pg. 258).

If you've always wanted to write that novel, or invent that widget, open your thought and give it a go. Be your unlimited, creative self.

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society