Created to Create

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” – Psalm 37:4

One way to read this verse is that the Lord not only grants our heart’s desires when we delight in him, but that he himself plants certain desires within our hearts. He literally gives us good desires! This can be seen in the human desire to surround ourselves with beauty––the beauty of nature, the beauty of art and music, even the beauty of quality time spent with loved ones. 

I (Jessi) recently felt prompted by the Lord to stop judging my own good desires––to not assume that they were “just me” and not from God. In the area of creativity, we can be tempted to put our creative longings on the back burner because they're (seemingly) not practical, or to label ourselves as “not creative or artistic” depending on our personal experiences. But the desire to express creativity is something God has planted in every human heart, because we are created in God’s image and he is the ultimate creator. It’s our inheritance, baked into our very nature because he made us in his likeness. 

God could have created the world to not have color, scent, taste, or sound, and he could have created us without the ability to appreciate all of those things. But he prioritized making a world that was not only functional, but beautiful. He also created us with the ability to make beautiful things, too! The nudges we feel to rearrange a room, to spend time with a friend, to nurture a creative skill, or to cook a good meal can all be gifts from God. They are also an opportunity to prioritize what he prioritizes, which includes beauty and creativity. 

So this is an encouragement from the Creative Hope team for all of us to continue embracing how God made us: people who delight in him and in being made in his likeness, people who cultivate creativity as a gift from our good God.