Thursday, 03 May 2012 08:40

By Denise Bossert
My dad was a terrific doodler. He could entertain my sister and me for quite a while with his version of Kilroy or a sketch of a silly Tam-wearing Scotsman. When dad finished entertaining us with his pad of paper and pencil, we’d turn to mom and ask her to draw something. She always said she just wasn’t creative. No begging or cajoling could make her pick up the pencil.
Dad would push away from the table and tell her that she was more creative than she realized. Dad believed that creativity is a gift we all possess – having been made in the image of God, the ultimate Creator. Sometimes, we’re just a little too insecure to let that creativity make a public debut.
I agree with that premise. I think each person has a creative flair; like my mom, I’ve felt a little insecure about putting my creativity on display.
I can’t draw anything that resembles what I have in my mind, but I can write. Even when I’m not at the computer, I’m writing in my head. My rough drafts almost always start there. If it works in my head, it might make it to the keyboard.
The talent, however, is not my own. Sure, I worked at it. I studied English and have some diplomas to prove it. But the gift came from the Creator.
There are few things as rewarding as using our gifts for God. It simply feels right, like bringing up the bread and wine so that God can bless it and change it into the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is good to make an offering of those things human hands have made. We offer them back to God.
And then we wait. We know that God does some of His best work in moments like these, moments when He scoops up our gifts, blesses them, and does the miraculous to and through them.
When our human offerings are given back to God in the Mass, God does His greatest work of all. He changes our gifts, and they become Jesus Himself. But the miracle doesn’t end there.
In marriage, we give Him our gifts. He enters into that offering, and a new life is formed.
He goes with us into the world, and makes us salt and light and leaven. And then those gifts are changed into beauty and justice and peace.
No gift is too small. No gift is too great. A smile. A martyr’s last breath.
You are God’s gift. God made you in His own image. And that means that you are creative. You are more creative than you think you are. You might not be able to draw a stick figure. You might have writer’s block every time you sit at the computer. But God has given you something. An aptitude for making music with your voice or with an instrument. The ability to make a quilt. To decorate a room. To grow a garden. To teach a child.
You are creative. And when that creativity is unleashed and offered back to God, amazing things happen. Handel composes. Michelangelo paints. Tolkien writes.
Still think you aren’t creative? Ask God to show you the talent that He has entrusted to you. Invest in that talent by studying it and practicing it. Learn from those who have perfected the talent. Imitate their tenacity. And offer that talent back to God. Then, you discover one of life’s greatest joys. The joy of being used by the One who made you to be - uniquely you.
Don’t let fear get in the way of that discovery.
Sure. There will be a few critics who don’t appreciate your creative flair. Those who bring forth the gifts and place them at the feet of Christ are sometimes ridiculed.
And that’s okay, too.
Our Lord can take our gifts and even the criticism they elicit. The God of creativity is also the God of frugality. He uses everything and wastes nothing. So, go ahead and pick up your gift. Walk the aisle of life. Place your unique gift at the feet of Christ.
You’re more creative than you think.
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