Living a life that Matters

“From the fullness of his grace we all recieved one blessing after another.” John 1:16.

I have always had an appreciation for music and art. Yet I really don’t have any major talents in the art or music. But you can find me hanging at art gallerys or lost in somebody’s photograph or painting. Especially when I travel. I usually look up the nearest art gallery when I’m in a town that I’ve been in. I love reading into other people’s expression of life.

One of my favorite night’s at Camber (our young adult program) is our “Art of Life” nights. They do such such an amazing job with those nights. Paintings, photograghs, hair stylists, music, etc. We had a huge turn-out last night. The cool thing is all of this is the expressions of people in their 20’s. But the sad thing is I think that most people lose their freedom of expression in art as they get older. This is usually due to jobs or families or just plain business. Our minds are so busy that we don’t take time to enjoy and take in what God has created for us.

I was trying to remember some of the things that I have done growing up that involved art. I took a drawing class in third grade(My mom lost all of my art work though). I took drama and choir in high school. I played guitar briefly in college. And I doodle a lot..

I guess the area I am most creative in is photography. More video than still. I made a lot of home movies back in the day. But now I usually do all my video at my church on their production team using a lot of cool equipment. I shoot a lot at home as well (Mostly of my kids. They will have a library of home videos for when they are older). I then decided to try and learn more about lighting and shading and took a black and white film photography class last semester for fun. I really enjoyed that class. It got me back in touch with my creative side.

I really hope I don’t get so busy that I lose my creative edge. Just watching Ty draw or Jake play in band gets me excited. God gave us the gift of creativity and expression. We are to use these gifts and talents to the fullest just as we are with our spiritual gifts. I love that the verse in John above on how he uses the word all. We are all to use these gifts and blessings. And he gives us all these blessings, whether we think we have talent or not. And He gave us the freedom to express the gifts and abilities so others can see them and He can be glorified through them.

Does Jesus appreciate our creativity? Pretty clear He was an artist…  “through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” Colossians 1:3. And all things are created by Him and for Him for His glory.  “appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” Hebrews 1:2-3.