Creativity

I love to create. It’s who I am. It’s what I do. It’s how God made me. I am happiest dreaming up new ideas and then trying them out. Most of my creations end up living with someone else. Some are sold for a bit of extra pocket money. Others are given away as gifts to friends and family. I love knowing that what I have enjoyed making can bring a smile to somebody.

The downside is that I rarely get to see the item again. Unless that special something is made for a special someone who shares a roof with me. Today I got to experience that pleasure. I made the kids a cubby house. Not your standard bed sheets and kitchen chair variety either. Though there is nothing wrong with those. I grew up on that particular style and it holds a soft spot, and many happy memories, in my heart.

This one though, is a little fancier. It is still made from a bed sheet but I got the scissors and sewing machine involved too. It has a roof, four walls, a curtain door, and two cute little windows…I digress…

My heart thrilled to hear my children’s laughter as they crawled inside. I was delighted to know that this is not a one off experience. And the whole thing made me wonder how God feels about us enjoying his creation.

When I put the finishing touches on a project, the very next thing I do is sit and admire it for a moment. God did the same thing when he made the world.

^{Genesis 1:31} God saw all that he had made, and it was very good…(NIV)

Consider this…

He could have made the world with the basics. One all nutritious food that had everything we needed. One kind of material good for building, another good for clothing.

But He didn’t.

He gave us variety. Colours, smells, sounds, shapes, breeds…I’m only just getting started – we could go on and on here, right?!

God wants us to get pleasure from his creativity. To delight in it. And I think he likes to watch. To enjoy us enjoying it. Giving the glory back to Him.

^{Psalm 19:1} The heavens declare the glory of God;

    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

² Day after day they pour forth speech;

    night after night they reveal knowledge.

³ They have no speech, they use no words;

    no sound is heard from them.

⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

    their words to the ends of the world. (NIV)

Limerick Diving

Join me in the Five Minute Friday Challenge hosted by Lisa-Jo Baker. Participants write for 5 minutes with no editing, no over thinking, and no backtracking. This week’s word is: Dive.

(Go)

There was a young lady named Dot,

Who was incredibly hot.

She dived into a pool,

Which helped her to cool

From the top of her head to her bot!

OK so it’s a stinking hot day here. Very humid too. And yes, I think it’s fair to say that the heat has very definitely gotten to me! But I must confess - I am my mother’s daughter and this is how we think allow our brains to wander at times. (Love you Mum!).

Over the years God has taught me to love me for who I am – not what I think others may want me to be. A difficult task at times maybe. As I look to my maker for my self worth I can dive right in with confidence knowing that my quirks are valuable too.

(Stop)

Now, your turn…

Just Because

He sat there, smiling, as the tears ran in rivers down his freckled cheeks. Finally grasping the meaning behind the symbolism in his story book.

We bought it for him when he was about three or four. Love is not a strong enough word. We would read it over and over again until he could quote it word for word even though he could not yet read for himself.

Several years have passed. He has moved on to other stories now.

We have also learned more about him; that he takes everything literally. That he needs help sometimes with comprehension. All part of the Asperger's he was finally diagnosed with last year.

He gets down on himself. Really down. He does not require anyone’s help to do that. So when other kids at school notice him, notice his quirks, and comment - it’s not good. Maybe they do not even realise what they said. Or that he would take it that way. Maybe they were not even being nasty.

Determined not to let him spiral any further down in this latest ‘I’m no good’ session, I stepped in. Or rather God did – and He let me help. It was Mummy and her boy time.

Gathering Max Lucado’s ‘You Are Special’ and leading him by the hand to a quiet chair at the far end of the house, we read the story together. And then we did what I only wish had occurred to me much, much sooner; years sooner.

I explained what it all meant; who the characters represented. What their actions symbolised. He had never understood any of this. I told him over and over again, “You are special because God made you. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks or says. He doesn't make mistakes. You are special just because.”

He cried. I cried. It was sacred…

Dear friend, I share this with you because I want to be sure that you grasp this all important truth too. Let God take your sweet face (yes, that’s yours) in his gentle hands and listen to Him say, “You are special just because I made you. You are loved. You are enough. That is all.”

NB: I am in no way being compensated for sharing about Mr Lucado’s book. I simply believe it contains truth that every heart needs to know.

Asperger's (and Other Big Words That Come From His Mouth)

Nobody got a card the same as me on Mother’s Day this year. Nobody.

A folded page from an A3 sketch book. The edge is torn where the perforation resisted letting go. Swirls of green, smudges of brown, squiggles of red and purple adorn the outside; no doubt contributed by little brother.

The front bears a cute (big brother) rhyme about this day coming but once a year.

Inside is mostly blank. In the top left corner, neatly framed in a box, there is a message:

Dear Mum,

Happy Mother’s Day!

May God bless you &

our descendants, yet also our

ancestors with the unpainful

cost of not only believing in

the Lord, but also the great

gift of eternal life! We

love you lots.

Sincerely sigged signed,

(His signature and little brother’s initials)

I must confess to smiling when I received this card. Then later, reading it over the phone to my mother, dissolving into an uncontrollable fit of giggles. He heard and was upset. I had to explain myself.

Amused by his peculiar way of saying things, it struck me as genuinely funny. Yet at the same time I was falling in love with him a little bit more. A moment to treasure. His curious way with words; you never quite know what will tumble from his lips next.

My son has Asperger’s Syndrome. There are times we manage. There are days we are driven mad. Then there are moments, sweet, sweet moments where he blesses us with his quirky personality. Our eyes are opened and we see what a precious gift he truly is.

He is one of a kind. I can not imagine him any other way. He has no shame in what he says. He does not know how to be anything else. So he is authentically himself...

There are two reasons for writing this post.

1. I want to share a little more of my world with you. 

2. There is a lesson here…

We will need to go back in time just a bit. All the way to creation. 

^{Genesis 1:27} So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them. (NIV)

Just ponder on that a moment if you will. We were made in Gods image. The image of the divine creator and owner of all that is. Wow!

Fast forward to our own individual beginnings.

^{Psalm 139:13} For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be. (NIV)

^{Ephesians 2:10} For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)

God knew what he was doing when he created every one of us. As he dreamt us up there was nothing random about it.  He made me; he made you, on purpose.

It has been said that Asperger’s is not a disability. It is a different-ability. Whether we are on the spectrum or not, I suspect that many of us fall into that category.

We each have something unique to offer the world. Never doubt it.