Left to Right: Cadence, Ayden, Lala, Carly. Making Stuff. May, 2014.
Creating and Consuming: No Contest
I really like to make stuff. Whether it’s a batch of cookies, or bossing words around until they line up the way I want them to, or a greeting card, like this one:
The specifics don’t matter much. My soul is satisfied when I make stuff.
On a recent weekend, we had a third of our grandlittles staying over. Unfortunately, a measurable portion of our region was on fire, creating unhealthy air. And our beloved Carly has asthma. (That’s her sitting beside me in the photo, with the big pink bear whom she has christened Applestar serving as a backrest.)
So we did the obvious thing: We replenished our crafty supplies (construction paper, anyone? colored pipe cleaners? googly eyes?) and settled in for a day of indoor creativity. And here is what struck me about making stuff at the dining room table (note the plastic table cover) with these three beautiful children:
Their pleasure came from the making. As they finished a piece, they set it aside and began the next thing. Mask made from a paper plate? Absolutely. Animals twisted up from pipe cleaners? Yes, please. Drawings? Collages? Okay.
When I am making something, so often I review, revise, do-over, and make multiple revisions until I’m satisfied. These guys? Not even. Their joy came from the making, not from praise or perfection. They would finish one project, then move right on to the next one, chasing their own ideas across paper and pipe cleaners and pom-poms.
Listening to their pleasant chatter, and watching them concentrate on their projects, I realized something: When I am making things, I have no desire to acquire stuff. Any urges to shop suffocates under the weight of creativity.
It makes me think: As image bearers, we were made to create, not so much to acquire.
What say you?
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:27 (NASB)
Sheila, I heard Erwin McManus (MOSAIC Church in LA) speak about just this thing–we were made to create beauty. You nailed it here……and what fun!
Thanks, Jody! And yes, we had a blast!!
I say, I think you’re right Sheila. Something else I’ve finally learned is – it doesn’t have to be perfect. There is so much more joy in the creating when we can let go of the need to be perfect. I love the picture of all of you creating together. Such fun.
Linda, thank you. Yes, letting go of that need for perfection is so freeing, isn’t it?