The Creation of an Artist by Michelle Bentham
Michelle Bentham is my guest blogger today. Leave her a comment!
I am a 41 year old Administrative Assistant in vocational ministry at a large church in the north Texas area. In my lifetime I have worn many hats. Unwed Teenage Mom, Stay at Home Mom, Wife, Daughter, Friend, Sister, Waitress, Cashier, Apprentice, Prodigal, Divorcee, Step-Mom, Aunt, Student, Administrative Assistant, Sunday School Teacher, Bible Study Facilitator, Beth Moore Junkie, Women’s Ministry Administrator, Bereaved Parent, Grief Expert, Child of God, Blogger and more… Much More.
I graduated from high school already a few months into motherhood and did not attend college. My only education in art and writing came at the hands of my Art I teacher and the wonderful English teachers from Granbury High.
I have dabbled in arts and crafts most of my grown life. Tweaking floral arrangements and creating trinkets, but these were not masterpiece works of art, just novelties. I attained a B average in my one year of high school art and determined that my technical skill did not merit further pursuit. Still, something in me begged to create.
Five years ago my family suffered the sudden and traumatic death of my eldest child, Justin, after he suffered injuries in a car accident. A year and a half later I set out to lead a ministry group and spent a whole week painting and decorating a room at our church for a group of bereaved parents I had never met. Though uncertain and, having never painted in this medium, the experience proved rewarding as I had three pieces to display on the walls.
You may say to yourself, “I am not talented.”
You don’t have to be.
The arts in their simplest forms come wrapped in a heart full of creative expression.
Maybe you read books full of poetic prose, narratives that paint pictures, or even sonnets and songs give your heart a boost. You might find yourself walking the halls of art galleries or scanning photographs and find the Lord speaking to your heart. Perhaps you craft or scrapbook… Places where your heart turns wistful in the throes of such beauty and grace that you say, I could never do that.
However creativity finds expression in your heart, God has a plan for it.
Hearing the voice of God is really the only prerequisite for creativity. Understanding His creative nature can lead us to open doors we might never consider in our own lives. Doors to creative expression and doors to beauty and grace we might never tap into but for the prompting of His Holy Spirit.
We are created in the very image of God, and on earth we reflect His image and glory. If we are in Christ, He is in us, and if He is in us then all of the nature of God fully resides in us. God in His very nature is creative. If His nature fully resides in us, and we reflect His image on the earth then our identity in Christ, our position in Him, is the only qualifying indicator for creative expression.
I’m beginning to learn this simple truth as I develop the ability to express creatively from my identity in Christ and the things I see and hear as I relate to Him.
God created you creative, too. Your creativity has the power to express His nature and glory on this earth. Technical skills are valuable and may be developed but without the creative nature of God at work in you – art would not be possible.
In you lies a Masterpiece of God’s design. How long will you wait to fully express it?
