“When i consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained” Ps. 8:3

To the untrained eye or for those who believe they don’t have a creative bone in their body, creativity may seem like random activity.  It may seem like a potter is making it up as they go, the artist is picking paints at will, the dancer is just moving to the music or that a writer just knows what words to put together, but in fact what one sees in these activities is the product of hours, days, months or years of careful consideration of how to portray something that inspires the artist, craftsman, dancer, musician, writer or creative mind.  Part of the process involves altering the plan sometimes in the moment of creation.

As of late, I have been fiddling around with making decorative wreaths as a means to creatively express myself when time does not allow for more complex works of art.  Often the piece begins with a design element that inspires the whole and before the first piece of ribbon, floral or item is applied to the wreath form, I have imagined it in my mind how I want it to go.  Sometimes, in the process of putting it together I realize that I may not have thought something out thoroughly, or the actual production is missing an element, a color, a texture or there may be something I thought would work well does not fit or can be manipulated the way I thought it would be.  This is where skills and experience work together in the creative process to complete an intended outcome.  I am not satisfied until I have matched the physical with the imagined and then I am able to step back and say, “yes!”.

David, in writing this Psalm is praising and contemplating the creative God who put the world together.  I like to think maybe these words came to him on a hillside one night while tending sheep.  Whatever the reason, he calls to mind how God’s creation was formed in Genesis 1 and 2.  To read that narrative, creation seems to be a series of random commands, “let there be light…let the earth bring forth grass…let the earth bring forth the living creatures…let us make man” – but an examination of nature, all the ecosystems, the universe, the seasons, the human body, etc. will reveal that creation is anything but random.  Everything is connected together and serves a purpose for another element of creation.  If one is to believe that God created the world, then one has to also realize that another of God’s attributes is intellect, thoughts that carefully considered the results of each component of creation and that same intentional creative process placed us in the life stream of the universe, designed for a purpose and destiny.  “And God saw that it was good”.