Just Because It's Beautiful (MamaTalk: Creativity)

Did you know that when God created the world, He created some things for no other reason than simply because they were beautiful?

This idea just hit me between the eyes recently as I studied Genesis 2:

And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food (verse 9, NIV).

We live in a world that seems increasingly driven towards the utilitarian, the profit-driven, the desire to have and consume.  And it's not that those elements of life don't have their place.  They do.  You can love art all you want, but you still gotta eat.

But when pursuit of profit and utilitarianism becomes the sole focus on life, I think something in the human soul dies.  Because that's not how God created us.  God created us to cultivate and enjoy beauty.  Beauty is very important to God.  So is variety.  Have you ever stopped to consider that God could have created all food to taste exactly the same?  It all could have tasted like gruel.  We could have had gray gruel trees.  It could have all had the same consistency.  But just stop and consider the multitudes of varieties of produce alone around the world.  There are fruits and vegetables in certain corners of the world that I have never even heard of!  And not only are there tons of varieties of food created for us to enjoy, but there are also infinite ways humans combine these ingredients.  There are endless new ideas for new texture and flavor.  And food doesn't fill the belly.  God made it to be delicious!

God is not a boring God.  He is not a utilitarian God.  Sometimes I think of Him this way, though.  Sometimes I think He just wants me to dot the i's and cross the t's.  Sometimes I think He wants me to just be a good girl and follow all the rules and that that is all there is to my relationship with Him.  But there is something soul-destroying about thinking of God that way, just as there would be if I thought of my husband that way.

The arts (all other arenas of creativity as well) are the doorway to seeing God as more than a utilitarian God.  They are the doorway to passion in life and passion in our relationship with God.  To see God's marvelous creation, so much of it created simply for the sake of beauty, lets us in on a secret: our God is a beautiful God, a splendid God, and the number one Fan of art and beauty and creativity.  When we are creative, when we harness our skills in our little corner of the universe, we fulfill our creative design.  We live out what it means to be created in the image of God.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground" (Genesis 1:27-28, NIV).

To create beauty, meaning, life in our little corner of the world is to express the rulership to which God calls us. 

That's what MamaTalk: Creativity is all about.  My goal for this series is to see as moms how we can reflect the design of our Creator.  Are you in?

Join me on Twitter and share your #MamaTalkCreativity!

And by the way, if you're not a mama, I'd still like to hear from you!  Most of my readers are moms or at least women, but there are some creative fellows among them as well!