THE CREATED IS ALSO A CREATOR

In the beginning God created man in His own image. In the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And then He sent them forth to create with the following words, be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth… In his account of the creation Moses expressed two principles which he believed to be true and which those of the Christian/Judeo persuasion generally accept as truth: First, that God is a creator and second, that man was created in the image of God. Interestingly, Moses also immediately quotes God as saying that the created should also go forth and create.

As I have pondered these verses in the book of Genesis, besides the obvious need of creation in the sense of having offspring if the race of man was to perpetuate, it seems we were also intended to become creative beings in all aspects of our lives. As we pass from one stage of our lives into the next, all events during those passages indicate that it is impossible not to be in the process of creation. Even a casual examination gives one the hint that there may never be a moment during our mortal existence which finds us absent from some form of creativity. Can it be said that we exist, therefore we create and we create, therefore we exist?

We live in an endless cornucopia of variable situations: understanding that intelligences are varied, nevertheless, we each create the contents of our minds; acknowledging the vast variety of the forms which tabernacle our spirits, nevertheless, in many ways we individually create the physical well-being of the body we have been given; observing that some are born with gold spoons and others with pewter, nevertheless, we individually create our social environment; being aware of the extreme difference of familial relationships, nevertheless, we individually create the climate in our homes.

Ultimately I must accept that, as I live this moment, I am in the act of creating who I am and to some degree creating what my future will be. It seems escape is impossible. Being creators seems to be deeply etched into the spiritual and physical composition of our souls, a gift given long ago by a loving Heavenly Father, which needs to be nurtured and strengthened if we are eventually going to be worthy of inheriting all that He has prepared for us.

Like so many of those attributes which we all receive as a birthright from Heavenly and earthly parents, we seem left not with the decision of whether to be about the business of creating, but are only capable of determining the direction our creative patterns will take us.

We have the power to create our minds into questioning, learning and functioning organs, or we can let our brains atrophy through neglect or misuse. We can elevate our thoughts toward attributes of godliness or allow them to degenerate toward carnality. We are continually about the business of creating the eventual sum total of what will be recorded on our cerebral cells by what we allow or seek to implant upon them minute by minute.

We constantly make creative choices about the ability our bodies have to function at their current optimum. No matter what stage of our mortal passage we are in, we can diminish or elevate our body’s abilities by what we choose to fuel it with, by what physical and mental stresses we put it through and how we clean and maintain it and its many moving parts.

With our ability to make creative choices we constantly determine whether we will live in harmonious surroundings or whether our environment will be filled with confusion and filth. We also create our environment in part by choosing as our associates people who have chosen to spend their lives tearing others down or strengthening them.

We have the power to create in our homes a place of refuge from the harmful irritations and brutalities of the world, making it a place where horizons can be extended and wounds can be soothed. We can create family relationships which will sharpen social skills and strengthen abilities to make contributive decisions or we can turn these associations into tyrannically governed mental concentration-camps.

With the passing of each day, I become more convinced that the created cannot cease creating. Therefore, it becomes essential that we carefully control the bearings of our creative activities. Through destructive choices we can create a personal world of retrogression and decay or through constructive choices we create a personal world of growth and love.

Scripture: Genesis 1:26-28