Attempting to remain fresh in the blog can frustrate this writer. Odds are good that there are posts throughout this site which are very close to duplicating other topics. Blame must be laid at the feet of the author. He alone takes on the challenge of putting words down on a regular basis. He alone is responsible for what a person reads here should they stumble upon this blog. Creativity is a hard thing to grasp. Our world tends to stifle our God given ability to remain new as we live. Humanity seems most comfortable with recycling ideas or actions that will not reveal our desire for sameness. Such behavior exists in every area of life.

Children can serve as our model for such open minded thinking. This is one reason I love to sit with school age kids. Their imagination carries them places we adults forgot about long ago. But before long they are told not to color outside the lines along with other messages that eventually lead us to the status quo. The very young know what it is to live 365 days per year. Adults can settle for living the same day 365 times. We carefully color our world inside lines that others create for us. Traditions become heavily guarded ideals rather than reasons for authentic celebration. Ideas become fixed norms in our mind rather than the beginning point of growth. Faith deteriorates into a finite box of beliefs instead of being alive with divine presence.

Toleration for the creative is an elusive target at best. Again, our human tendency is to baptize ideas of any type as fixed and eternal. Columbus lived with his share of doubters who fully expected him to fall of the face of the earth. Galileo faced violent opposition in his idea that there may be more to our universe than what we see. Henry Ford once said that the Model T would be the last automobile needed in our world. Long before all of this we find a young Jewish teacher experiencing all types of backlash to His work. Jesus serves as a model for the divinely creative life God offers. But do we follow in line with His approach or settle for joining the naysayers?

Remaining flexible is a key component of healthy faith. God's truth is indeed unchanging but how it fits in our world demands creativity. Aging is one area affected by this reality. What we need to know when we are younger may not be all we learn. Our age calls for that constant openness to God as we mature. My tenure as a parent will reach nineteen years next summer. Being a good dad means that I need to learn from God not just at the start but also remain open to guidance always. Maybe you get the point. Creativity is a gift from God. It is the result of staying close to God's heart. Not only will it change your world but it will help you change the world of other people.

Bro. Trey