The Joy of Creating

The kids and I spent the day building the Snow Nativity Scene that is in this picture to the left. There really was no other alternative if we were going to avoid going insane. There is only so much spilled hot chocolate, and spilled syrup one family can withstand. So we ventured out to Create, to build something. As we were working on this small little project, the thought came to me, that man needs to constantly create or he will be living against his very nature.

There's a line in the movie Wall Street where Martin Sheen says to his son, "son, learn to create, and not make money off the buying and selling of others". We are made in the Image and Likeness of God, and when we create, even small creations, we are living in line with our nature. Here's the major point as we approach Christmas, its very possible to live outside of our nature, and destroy. We destroy ever time we spread gossip, every time we spread scandals, every time we use the gift of language to tear others down, to spread anger, or jealously, or even our bad mood. This was not what we were made for. We were made to create. Creating can be a million small things- Cooking, building, creating ideas, works of art, creating joy within our families, and our places of work, smiling, rising above our moods and feelings. There's a great line in Dickens, "A Christmas Carol", where Scrooge is observing his old boss, Fizziwigs, and he is spreading joy at the Christmas party, and affirming everyone there, that the ghost of Christmas past says to Scrooge, "Its a small thing isn't to spread this joy," Fizziwigs was literally changing the course of the world with his small decision to rise above his feelings, maybe rising above his moods was easy for Fizziwigs, maybe it wasn't, the point is he made the decision to do it.

As Christmas approaches, there are many ways to create, and there are many ways to destroy, its much harder to create, but living in line with our nature is where we will find the greatest satisfactions in life;