Day 28 | Michelle’s story

Reflection

Michelle was sitting with her five-year-old, drawing the 20th picture of the day. All over the house lay piles of paper from previous projects, pirate hats, crowns, and simplistic pictures of their family. The typical chaos of a household with small children.

Michelle had just been reading a book about how God delights in our work, and how creativity and restoration are part of God’s good work, manifested through his people. As she tidied away a pile of drawings, she was struck by the scene playing out in front of her. Leaning down to her child, she said, ‘God loves your creativity. We love your drawings, and so does God.’

As a mum to young kids, Michelle sometimes felt that her life was dominated by cleaning and tidying, and that was not an unfair summary. There, in that moment, she was able to delight in her daughter’s creativity and recognise that her work in restoring order from chaos allowed this creativity to flourish. She praised God quietly, rejoicing in the creativity that flows from him, through her and her daughter.

Echoing God’s creativity is evident in more than music and art; it’s in the ability to rustle up a delicious meal, engineer a building to stand up in a disaster or craft a culture that lets people flourish. As we do these things and more, God delights in the goodness of our work. We can all praise the Lord by doing our tasks well, paid or unpaid.

What lessons can you draw from the purposeful creativity of this five-year-old? What has God given to you to be creative with? That might be as simple as creating memories with friends, playing sports or video games, or making dinner. How can you use your creativity to praise the Lord today?

Jesus, please take all the things I create and restore today and let them be to your praise and glory, even if no one else sees them! Amen.