Today’s Reflection
WHEN WE CREATE, as when we pray, “we begin to hear the self we actually are emerging out of our shadow selves, our counterfeit selves, our pretended selves.”* … Participating in the creative act helps us to see ourselves as we are and as we might become. Like prayer, the creative act draws us into the authentic life that awaits us and into our fulfillment in God.
Creativity, an essential tool for shaping the soul, provides a pathway to the fierce truth of our life. Those traveling the spiritual road who yearn for the healing of life’s deepest hurts, the fulfillment of immeasurable longings, or the profound peace found only in life with God need all their creativity to complete the journey.
*Quotation is from Ann and Barry Ulanov, Primary Speech: A Psychology of Prayer (John Knox Press, 1982), 2.
- Karla M. Kincannon
Creativity and Divine Surprise
From page 13 of Creativity and Divine Surprise: Finding the Place of Your Resurrection by Karla M. Kincannon. Copyright © 2005 by Karla M. Kincannon. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
How does creativity enrich your soul? Share your thoughts.
Today’s Scripture
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
John 6:51, NRSV
This Week: pray for public servants. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.
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Saints, Inc.:
This week we remember Clare of Assisi (August 11).
Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Lord, may those elected officials now in office and those running for office search for you, ask for, and receive your wisdom in order that they may do what is right. The whole country needs your wisdom as we face very tough times with drought, wild fires, high unemployment, the aftermath of tornadoes earlier this year, global warming, and a big election day. In Jesus name I pray. Amen
Ah, creativity!
Song, dance– poetry. All of the above.
Without such things, life becomes mundane, even prayer becomes mundane, a “check list” of things to get done and move on.
But it is in the creative act, the unscripted moment that real, honest LIFE occurs. David Stendl-Rast writes of surprise, how even though we know, beyond a doubt, that spring will return each year, when the first snowdrops push their way through the earth, the wonder of new life still surprises our tired spirit. Every time.
Every single time.
Creativity does not enrich my life. It give me life, deep, fulfilling, purposeful life.
Well said, Heidi, well said.
Creativity in all its various forms gives expression to my soul. With that expression comes release of my soul into glorious light; warming sun.