beauty and creativity

Trust.

Creativity.

What are the first things that come to your mind when you think about those two words?

The first thing that comes to my mind is failure. how we deal with failure and mistakes is actually the best measure of the level of trust in a community. When you trust people, you will always find a moment when you’ll be disappointed, where someone has failed or really made a wrong choice. We can use it as a basis to not trust people...and end up using it against them.

All this leads me to ask questions like, have we learned to love in such a way that people feel incredibly free to fail? Have we created places that are safe...where you can roll the dice, risk it all and make a terrible mistake? Are we creating environments that are based on confidence in God and in people? Or are we creating places that are filled with fear?

Can we learn to create places that are full of love and freedom? I am learning that the more people I love, the more I make decisions that are not based on myself. I look at people who rape, cheat, steal...and in that moment of their lives, they’ve decided that their personal satisfaction as more important than all the pain they might cause everyone else their actions touch....

The more people you love the more difficult it will be for you to make life destructive decisions. Seems to me there is a Jesus message in their somewhere. I get asked lots about how to grow your faith. And I am learning it has alot to do with how much I value me. Mother Theresa said it like this:

If faith is lacking, it is because there is too much selfishness, too much concern for personal gain. For faith to be true, it has to be generous and loving. Love and faith go together, they complete each other.

One of the interesting thoughts I have been wrestling with lately as I have been thinking about freedom is "control". How much control should anyone have? What I am realizing is that every organization, group, community, team, etc. has tight control somewhere. All of us have had experiences with organizations that want to control the end product. Maybe what we should be pushing for instead is having a high control over the quality of people we trust. When I trust a person’s character, I can let them have an immense amount of freedom—knowing that even they will not always make the best decisions, because wisdom is something you grow in. I see God calling us to become tight in our control of character, not behavior.

Unfortunately, so many of us are so afraid of making mistakes that we don’t; that’s why so many people that I have talked to say they are not creative. The creative process always dies in the atmosphere of fear. Because creativity and failure are twins.

Chuck Swindoll said, "In vain I have searched the Bible, looking for examples of early believers whose lives were marked by rigidity, predictability, inhibition, dullness, and caution. Fortunately, grim, frowning, joyless saints in Scriptures are conspicuous by their absence. Instead, the examples I find are of adventurous, risk-taking, enthusiastic, and authentic believers whose joy was contagious even in times of full trial. Their vision was broad even when death drew near. Rules were few and changes were welcome. The contrast between then and now is staggering."

In the leadership push of the last ten years, we have been taught to focus on excellence. The last couple of days has taught me something. Ready? When your focus is excellence, and your focus is execution—in terms of it having to be executed precisely so it’s efficient—excellence and efficiency actually become enemies of the creative process. Maybe instead of talking about finding ways to be creative in effectively administering the mandate of the gospel...we need to be finding ways to express that which is beautiful about the Gospel. Calling people who are weary, worn, overwhelmed and overcome by the darkness of sin to the majesty of a wondrous Savior who is able to bring His light into the darkest night. And when His light appears in the darkness, the darkness cannot stop it...redemption happens.

As the people of God, we are all artists. Our lives are the painting of God crying out to a world with His love, with the powerful message of redemption! Is it clean, sterile and disinfected process? no. Efficient? no, but really, art is never efficient...but it does move our souls. We are His masterpiece. What is more moving than a redeemed life living with joy and wild abandon in following the dream of His Kingdom?

I don't want to live with fear...trying to find rules and regulations to control "end products". We are stretching to base our entire life mission on the reality of Jesus actually transforms people. So much so that I feel no pressure to try to make people act or be a certain way. I’m banking everything on the fact that Jesus is the redeemer of broken lives.

Maybe that's what faith is. Banking it all...on Him.

"Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favour that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace."
Martin Luther