Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26)
You're not just a beautiful part of the story that God is writing. You're not just a created object, a passive member of his family, an unassertive part of the tapestry that He is weaving. Yes, God is the ultimate Creator, but God Made you in His image and you my friend have a very big part to play.
You spend every moment of every day writing your story, planting your garden or painting your canvas - however you like to think about it. And we should think about it, because every time that we open our mouths and speak, the words that we choose to say, the look that we give our loved ones, the tone of our voice and the manner in which we show or hold back affection…all of it works together to create the current world that we live in. The way that we choose to raise our children, or train (or not train) our pets, the way that we dress and care for ourselves, do our job - even the way that we drive and the way that we keep our house and decorate. It all comes together to create the tapestry of our lives. We are creatives like our Father.
In the spiritual realm the same is true. With every prayer that we utter and every thought that we take captive, every lie that we replace with truth - we are creating something. All of these things - every action that we take and decision that we make, is a brush stroke on the canvas of life. God will certainly join in when invited and delights to give us hints and guidance - like the Master Creator that he is - he longs to teach us. But then ultimately He allows us to do the planting, the pruning, the weeding (or lack thereof) and the designing in the garden of our lives. When others look at what we have made, regardless of how we feel, we are not a victim of our circumstances but rather the designer of them. What they see is what we ourselves have done.
Now we might be creating a lot of things subconsciously - without conscious knowledge - and that's what we want to change. The lies that can cause us to act on automatic pilot and in self-destructive ways are often buried in the shadows and we are not fully aware of them controlling us. But we want to realize that we are indeed actively creating every day, and one of the greatest things that we can weave into our story, that we can write on our page or plant in our garden is a strong and beautiful loving relationship with God, because that will shine through into every aspect of our lives. That influence will draw people to Him. And it will bring about greater freedom in our choices as we create.
So make it an integral part of your story as you create your life this year to reflect God in every aspect of it: in your relationship with yourself and others, your relationship with food and money, your home, your church, your job… Bring God into all of that so that as you create, he can assist you and guide you and influence you. The beauty that will come from that will be a collaboration of two creative minds: the Ultimate Creative Mind, and you - his beloved apprentice - who is learning to reflect the Father's beautiful life-giving creativity through our own creation. So have fun as you create, but be inspired and take your guidance from your devoted Creator. What we give back to Him can be a life of love lived wisely and thoughtfully and in His honor.
-Kelly Joyce (a contributing writer and member of the COBI community)
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