Today’s word: creativity.

I recently heard Brian McLaren say that creativity is where the Spirit is moving these days. Art, prose, poetry, architecture, landscape design, music… his list went on. These are the things that will help humanity will see a path beyond division and selfishness. It’s the artists; those who touch us deeply, the ones who shove us toward empathy, and make us want to do a little better, who speak Spirit.

I’ll admit that when I heard that, I thought, “Well, I guess I’m officially on the sidelines now. I am certainly not creative.”

It felt like middle school and my friends were wondering who I was going ask to the Spring dance. Nobody. I can not dance. And, I do not for a minute believe no one will be watching. Even if no one else is, my partner will certainly be watching, and wondering if I actually thought I was dancing. Nope. Just like the middle school dance, I guess I’ll sit this movement of the Spirit out.

Then, I took a breath, and asked middle school me to please be quiet for a second. “Dude, that was a long time ago.”

I actually have been known to dance a little bit. Sometimes, the music moves, literally moves me. Why, not long ago, I was was dancing with my sweetie of fifty years on a beach in Hawaii, and I didn’t care who was watching.

And, sometimes I experience creativity. It comes from deep inside, or maybe from someplace outside, it’s hard to tell which, but it comes.

I ponder a little, play a little, imagine a little, and there it is: a story, an insight, a vision for that bush in the garden, an awesome Dad joke, a photo of a lizard on a rock, a whispered prayer of gratitude. Or maybe it’s simply figuring out how to encourage and support an unknown artist that is in a creativity league most of us will never visit. I’m a part. Look at me doing creativity.

Of course my work isn’t award winning or show stopping. In fact, sometimes even my best Dad jokes are simply ignored. That’s cool. It still has a life. Is qualifies. It’s creativity.

Creativity. Where the Spirit moves. It’s where we connect to one another, and remember who we are, who we all are. We somehow partner with the Creator. It comes for within and from out side of us. It feeds that spark that makes us truly human.

I think McLaren is on to something.