I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a personal chef. What a luxury it would be to have someone plan delightful meals, buy fresh ingredients, cook innovative entrées, side dishes, and desserts, plate them festively, serve them, and then clean up afterward. I’ve been cooking since I left home for college at 17, so 56 years’ worth of meals later, I can imagine the wonder of someone else orchestrating the daily menus.
This week, a tiny chef showed up, and I got my wish. In one of our home’s creative spaces, she gave us a magical taste of her craft. Yet it wasn’t without its challenges.
I placed my order from her menu: shrimp tacos with lettuce, avocado, and bell pepper slices.
“What topping do you want? Hot sauce? Green enchilada sauce? Sour cream?”
“Chef’s choice!”
“What does that mean, Gran?”
“It means that you decide. I’m game for whatever you want to add.”
So far, so good.
The tiny chef rustled around in the play kitchen we’d purchased secondhand, which had required a bit of refurbishing before it became a reliable place for creative moments.
“Where are the plates?” the tiny chef said.
“Where have you looked?” I replied.
“In the cabinet. In the oven.”
“Where else could you look?”
“Maybe the refrigerator? Or the microwave? Under the sink?”
The tiny chef opened and closed all sorts of doors in search of the plates.
“I found them. They were under the sink.”
I laughed.
“Where are the shrimp? There’s no lettuce or peppers either.”
Next, she couldn’t find the shrimp or the taco shells. Only tortillas were there.
“No tacos today, Gran.”
After a bit more rumbling, the tiny chef declared, “This is a mess.”
As the patron at this fine restaurant, who was I to say that the tiny chef (and her big brother) were the main reason things were topsy-turvy?
“I wonder what would help,” I said.
Clearing the Clutter to Make Room
With that, the tiny chef unloaded the microwave, refrigerator, pantry shelves, oven, and the area under the sink. Together, we emptied every container.
A bit of decluttering and a bit of organizing transformed everything.
The tiny chef began again. “Do you still want tacos, Gran? Does that sound good?”
Who am I to turn down a personal chef’s offerings?
Her creativity flourished once the tiny chef regrouped and found everything she needed. Even kids need to do a bit of spring cleaning from time to time.
Spring cleaning feels appropriate in the middle of Eastertide, the joyful season between Easter and Pentecost. After the dregs of winter, bright green sprouts appear throughout the yard, pushing aside fallen debris. In my house, I mimic the desire for fresh newness. Present to the task at hand, I clear out closets, rearrange bookshelves, and toss out piles of papers that threaten to tumble off countertops, chests, and cluttered desks. I come away energized from refreshing the rooms I inhabit. Like the tiny chef who reorganized her kitchen to let her creativity shine, I, too, rediscover a fresh breath of desire to create now that I can find what I need.
Created to Create
According to Merriam-Webster, create means “to bring into existence,” and it cites Genesis 1:1: “God created the heaven and the earth.” Creativity is “the ability to create.” We are image bearers of God the Creator; thus, creativity is part of our design. As writers, we mirror the Creator when we shape meaning, express beauty, and offer truth through the creativity of our words. We echo God’s acts of goodness in the world.
When Creativity Feels Stuck
At times, creativity flows effortlessly, yet it can also feel completely out of reach. Children seem to know how to engage with creativity and the imagination, don’t they? For us adults, creative expression may be more cumbersome at times.
What inspires innovation and ingenuity? What hinders vision and originality? We may be capable yet unfruitful. We long for a muse yet find ourselves muted. We want our writing to be delightful, yet it feels dull. Our vision of splendid words instead seems rather stodgy. Wishing to offer mind-boggling creations, somehow it all comes forth as mucky and mundane. What’s meant to be lively comes across as lumpy and stuffy, rather than spunky. Meaning to bring forth words that are electric, we unearth only effective ones. Words fail us.
Practices That Cultivate Creativity
I wrestle with such concepts regularly, whether I’m writing myself or accompanying other writers on their creative journey. I’ve listed ten ideas that I return to often. Your list may look different from mine. What would you add or remove?
1. Attentiveness
I grow in creativity as I notice. I’m reminded of how Jesus pointed out everyday images, then used them to reveal deeper truths. He offered insights as He observed birds, soil, seed, and vineyards. What can eagle-eyed gazing add to my creative cadence?
2. Body Care
From the top of my head to the bottom of my feet, my body carries me through the day. Yet, as creatives, we forget how vital this vessel is to our creative work. Experiment with ways to move your body. Take a creativity break and walk around the block. Stretch. Bend. Nap. Exert. Reset.
3. Discipline
Regular rhythms of writing provide room for words to emerge. Creativity needs practice and routines as well as free-flying spontaneity. Both create room for inspiration to appear.
4. Imagination
Children engage readily with their imagination, producing crops of wonder. My writing produces bright green shoots of wonder when I do likewise. Imagination invites me to step in, picture scenes, hear conversations, and smell aromas, which then can become poetry, metaphor, and story.
5. Imperfection
Rough drafts give me permission to do things on the fly, below the radar of perfection, which can suffocate the green growth of creativity. Vinata Hampton Wright says, “We become writers by writing—faithfully, imperfectly, regularly.” Yes, let’s try that.
6. Playfulness
Renewal arrives through the simple delights of play. Sometimes my creativity needs a new angle, a new perspective, a new modality. Instead of a story or an essay, I enjoy exploring words in new ways. Maybe today I’ll craft a poem, a riddle, a collage, or even use paint or colored pencils on the page. If you could be more childlike today, what would you experiment with to inspire your writing ways?
7. Prayer
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit enjoy my company. When I engage in conversations with God, we listen to one another and share ideas, concerns, and hopes. From a place of belovedness and safety, I can launch into the creativity God gave me.
8. Rest
Margin means room for restoration. I take time to sit in the backyard and watch clouds roll by. A book and a blanket make for a marvelous afternoon pause. What would rest your body, soul, and spirit today and foster your creative ways?
9. Silence & Solitude
Constant noise and constant motion deafen the reflective nature of silence and solitude, pools of refreshment. Without quiet, I forget how to be still and behold wonder within and around me. Where could you make room for tranquil, serene, pleasant hushes that would soothe the chaos around or within you?
10. Spaciousness
Uncrowded, unhurried, I can attend to God’s heart and my own heart. Then I can offer to others from the overflow, not from drought’s dry desperation. What is the curve of the conversation like with Christ? What is the texture of the Father’s love for me? What ache can I name rather than tamp it down and ignore it? Where do I need space to simply let nothing much to happen?
Through small, trustworthy habits, interspersed with moments of spring-cleaning’s decluttering effects, creativity grows. Let’s choose to pay attention. Let’s write imperfect pages, making messes to discover what we think and what we want to offer others. Let’s imagine as we play with words. Let’s hold space to rest, letting silence, solitude, and spaciousness accompany us on our creative journey. Let’s create as we respond to the One who makes all things new.
Creativity originated with God, our Creator, and we are invited to participate in His joy. The tiny chef who visited our house this week may not even know what creativity and imagination actually mean. Yet her sprightliness meant we enjoyed the playful fruits of these realities in her life.
I highly recommend a personal chef, even if the food is made of wood and the aromas exist only in your imagination.
Whose creativity has touched you today? Who will you touch with the creativity you’ve been gifted by God?
Reflection Questions:
- When was the last time I paid deep attention to the ordinary things in my yard, my house, among and within my friends?
- What regular rhythm would develop my creativity muscles?
- When was the last time imagination took me to new places?
- What fears creep up when I create imperfectly?
- What prayer could I craft to remind me of how much creativity invites me into the heart of God, the Creator?
Prayer
Holy Spirit, Breath of God,
You who filled Bezalel with imagination, skill, and creativity,
Inspire us to rediscover creativity,
then to create with such effervescent joy that we might reflect Your beauty and delight,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
If you are looking to take your writing to the next level, or just need a hand with “what’s next,” I’d love to chat. What would it be like to have someone listen to your creative hopes and dreams and help you overcome the roadblocks that keep you stuck in procrastination or disappointment? I love the work I get to do as a book coach. I come alongside writers on their writing journey, offering encouragement and insights. Let’s talk about what’s possible as you explore creative ways to write the words you need to share with the world.
You can always schedule a free consultation call. My writing services offer a variety of ways to work with me:
- Personal Writing Coach: One-to-one sessions for your growth as a writer
- Book Coach: Creating your book- A comprehensive path traveled together to create the structure of your book
- Book Proposal: Journeying together to create your book proposal
- Developmental or Manuscript Edit: Another set of eyes for the overview of your manuscript
- Line/Copy Edit: The nuts and bolts of words, sentences, and paragraphs
