Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Time to Be.

You have to make time to be creative.

It's true, isn't it? Last week at the Communicators Workshop, I was admonished to make time to be creative...because our speaker, McNair Wilson, said that if we don't intentionally leave and make time to be creative, we are reduced to the "tyranny of the urgent," and we lose our creativity.

I was nearly brought to tears as he spoke, feeling so bound to my schedule these last few months...feeling so uncreative. Feeling so much like I have my backpocket novel that is currently 3 pages long and a songwriting book that's slowly gathering dust.

So this week, I am throwing off the chains. I took a few free moments on the plane from Dallas to Seattle to 'be creative.' I took some time on Sunday to sit in front of a lake at a Seattle Park and write. Today, I'm taking a day away from work to sit in my favorite Seattle coffee shop and read and write and think and be.

Suddenly, I feel so much more like myself, just because of a few scheduled hours of "be-ing" this week.
We are created in the image of a creator. Maybe our Sabbath is part remembering that we are designed to create ourselves...because when we work through that seventh day, we tend to forget.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27

5 comments:

Pastor Paul said...

Well Done! What I haven't figured out yet is how to take a Sabbath when I have four boys who want time with dad on his one day of rest. So, maybe youth pastors should schedule creativity time into their schedule. Hmmm...

Pastor Paul said...

I look forward to hearing your latest song at the staff meeting. You have a fantastically creative mind when it comes to that stuff.

hmb said...

Paul,
That's exactly what I meant--putting creativity into your work schedule!

wren said...

Creativity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay and well said.

And I think that sitting in any park in your great state inspires creativity. I have to admit, though, that I absolutely love the Midwest during the summer.

I miss you!

pamela said...

Praise God for making time to be, to working rest into the schedule. It is so necessary, and so difficult to do when so many of the people I am surrounded by do not do this, and the work combined with other activities does not easily create such time. I find the creation of such time to be a constant battle, but one worth fighting. I hope that you can carve out the time and not have to constantly fight for it.