Wild Mind & Disciplined Eye

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 138: Today, I am grateful for a wild mind and a disciplined eye. 

"Creativity is a wild mind with a disciplined eye." - Dorothy Parker

If you have followed "Daily Gratitude" very long, you know that one thing I am passionate about is the truth that each one of us is creative in our own unique way. We cannot help it. 

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." -Genesis 1:27

Our God relished creation. He "hovered" over the earth, not limited by time or space. Defying gravity and the time space continuum. He relished, enjoyed, played and delighted in the process. Much like we paint a picture or redecorate a room. Imagine God creatively playing through the process until it was just right. Then he would sit back, smile and...

"And God saw that it was good." -Genesis 1: 10,12,18,21 & 25

He saw it was good, but he kept creating. Can my human mind imagine his thoughts:  "I can do more. I can move that here or there. I can add this spot of interest to capture the eye, a certain flower to delight the nose, the fur on a rabbit to create wonder in touch. Birds with unique calls and songs. Oh, how about a cat's purr? And, a horse's nose. And just for fun, puppy breath." Then, in Genesis 1:31, it is recorded a little differently. 

"And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day." - Genesis 1:31

Our God had "finished" the masterpiece, just as we might finish planting a garden, a quilt, writing a book, designing a kitchen remodel, a wedding dress, building a house, a painting, a song or a poem. Because he is God... and I am not... my child's mind never limited creation to a 24 clock. As an adult, Genesis 2:4 seems to support the idea that God's days are not our 24 hour days. Not until He sets the clock and says "go". 

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.-Genesis 2:4

I am not a theologian - but I love to read his word. It doesn't really matter to me the "clock" God used. Nature records and sings of his power and majesty. Seriously, what are the odds that the planet would be placed exactly where it needs to be to support life as we know it? The air is perfect for our lungs. The water just the right combination to sustain life. I think God savored the creative process of that design. Creative... but a God of Order, too. I know he can create in an instant, but I love to imagine him delighting in the process. Playing around to get it just right. 

Then, that finished creative work takes on a story of its own. To me... it reads as if that is the point he rested. He declared the day of rest holy. He delighted in the creation. Then he was ready to do something bigger and better. To create one who would have the power to choose or refuse to be in relationship with Him. 

A wild mind and a disciplined eye. Then, he made humans in his image. 

then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Genesis 2:7

This verse strikes a chord in my soul and restores childlike wonder in me. He breathed into us. Our God's breath...  our soul breath. 

We were designed different from the rest of creation that behaves out of instinct by his design. We can choose Him... or we can refuse to seek to know Him in spirit and in truth. Nature gets along pretty well on it's own, until man makes choices that help or hurt this precious, pretty earth.  

Yes. Creative, wild and disciplined is the mind of our maker. We reflect him in the work of our hands and what we do for fun. Lined up accounting numbers that balance are an art of their own. I prefer a camera or words. 

A cleaned closet and reorganized room can be a work of art. My Randy would say in my Scrapcave - to make it clean and orderly might be closer to a miracle - but the point is that we all discover something that makes our souls sing. 

The finished creative work of creation takes on a story of its own. As humans, our final touch was His breath and freewill. We can think for ourselves. Or, think too much of ourselves. He knows our hearts and our minds.

Our God loves order... but he is wildly creative. Those same seeds are in us. What will we create or put in disciplined order today?

Today, I am grateful for a wild mind and a disciplined eye.