Created in His Image

It's interesting how things in life can really coincide at the right moment to cause great reflection on things learned in the past and things we are currently learning.  A couple of years ago I was taking a class with Dr. Wayne Grudem.  One of our assignments was to take different attributes of God and figure out how we are created to (in His image) to do things that are similar.  What comes to the forefront of my mind in this instance is creating.  God created.  I think we can overlook that at times and even take it for granted.  However, we were created to create.  House are built, dresses are made, cars are assembled, etc.  We create things which reflect the image in which we were created.

My friend, Amanda, mentions in her blog that March is National Craft Month.  Now, while I am not as crafty and creative as my sweet friend I am learning some new things and exercising this other side of me.  It also came at an interesting time when reading a book with several other ladies in church called, "The Hidden Art of Homemaking" by Edith Schaeffer.  She says:

"There should be a practical result of the realization that we have been created in the image of the Creator of beauty.  Whether you are married and have a family; whether you share a house or a flat with one or a number of people; whether you still live with your parents; whether you live alone and have guests in from time to time; whether you are a man or a woman:  the fact that you are a Christian should show in some practical area of a growing creativity and sensitivity to beauty, rather than in a gradual drying up of creativity, and a blindness to ugliness."  pg 32, 33

These are words that I wish had been spoken to me long ago.  Although, I must admit that I may not have been ready to hear them.  I know that I tried to make my little apartment lovely but it wasn't really a priority.  It has since become one and it is still quite an exercise for me to think through what would work in different areas of our house and how to execute it all.  When I read these words I immediately flashed to a memory of walking into a couple's home as I was to watch their son for the afternoon.  Wonderful believers with not a lick of anything on the walls and some plastic features here and there.  Although, their son's room was decorated nicely the rest of the house left me with a sterile feeling.  I have this image in one sense and then the image of many of the homes that I have been invited to fellowship in and the vast creativity of our Creator comes out in the variety in which many women have adorned their homes.  Warm, lovely, safe, comfortable would be words that I would use to describe them -- all works in process.  I don't mention the other home to "judge" them but to describe the vast difference in them.  I want our home to be lovely because my Creator is lovely and He created me to create... in His image.  I want our home to declare His glory and proclaim His blessings.

Schaeffer goes on to say that while there is always something new to learn there is usually something that must be dropped to make room because we are, after all, finite beings.  Obviously, priorities must stay in view when we decide what will be put on the back burner.  You may say, "My schedule is loaded!  No time, no time!!"  Schaeffer beckons us to be creative in our creativity.  Maybe you take the time to present the evening meal in a special and different way rather than just slopping it up on the table.  Take some time to think about living artistically.  I am still tossing around ideas in my head and with the ladies that are reading this book with me.  If you have some thoughts, please feel free to share!