Experiencing God as Creator
Spring is my favorite time of year. The wind is like a gentle caress, warm and soft. Celebration is in the air as the earth demonstrates something new and delightful every day from the blooms on the trees to the flowers coming up in the slowly, warming soil. In spring, color returns to the earth. The air smells better, and there is a promise of fruitfulness as we prepare our yards and gardens for the future bounty.
For me, spring is experiencing God as the Creator.
In Romans 1:20a, Paul speaks about people recognizing that there is a God through his creation:
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen…
Personally, I think it takes a lot more work to deny a Creator’s hand in the making of beautiful places in nature. I think we unconsciously give praise to a God who appreciates and gifts us with landscapes, flowers, and other lovely things when our breath is taken away in awe.
Another aspect of experiencing God as a Creator is in creating itself. I love to create things. I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember. My parents always gave me a place to plan, plant, and nurture gardens. I was given a chalk drawing kit once, and I learned how to use chalk to draw in a three-dimensional way, using dark and light. When I took Home Economics, (something no longer offered in schools) I quickly caught on to sewing and began to challenge myself in creating objects – clothing for me, clothing for dolls, small gifts for family and friends. In eighth grade, I learned how to knit and found it amazing that long, fuzzy string could be turned into afghans, gloves, and scarfs. I even look at my children with a sense of sheer joy when I think I had a part in creating them.
Creating becomes a partnership with God and, in turn, an experience with God as the Creator.
When I create something, I feel a fellowship with God and an understanding of how he reacted in the first chapter of Genesis:
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
In Life without Lack, Dallas Willard writes, “When God created us in his image, he created us with the power to act and to create. That is the image of God in man and woman.”
Of course, our creative powers are limited whereas God’s are not, but still, there is a sense of giddiness and wonder when something I create comes out beautiful. Or when I give something I created away and am delighted when the person is pleased by the gift. There is this bond with God, sharing his joy not only in the creation, but in the giving.
Sometimes in my creative energy, things didn’t turn out as I dreamed with too large gloves and too small jumpers, but the pleasure in finishing the project always outweighed any disappointment with the object itself.
When something doesn’t work out quite like I imagined, I can identify with his grief that is reflected in his question to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:
What is this you have done?
Not that I don’t love what I have created, but I am disappointed by the fact that it will not be the blessing I hoped it would be.
Sometimes I give myself an assignment. Find God today. Where is he making himself known to me? It becomes a Spiritual Practice of sorts, as I look for an experience of God. Often it is through nature, the budding trees, the beautiful flowers, a stunning landscape. Sometimes it is in sitting down and planning, then sewing yoga bags for friends. And at other times, he makes himself known through people – a smile from a stranger, the giggling of a baby, the kindness of someone – all have a way of validating God as Creator in the world.
So I experience God as the Creator with a reminder through his creation, a fellowship in creating, and a practice while looking for God in the midst of his creation.
How do you experience God as the Creator? Where is he making himself known to you?
- Generations of Faith - February 5, 2020
- Lament Over Disunity - November 27, 2019
- Invitations: God’s Promptings - May 22, 2019
I love your take on this, Becky. To answer the question – I see him in my garden, as you do. I see him when I have my hands in the dirt readying it for a seed or a root. It is an amazing thought to think that something comes from nothing, that something will appear in just a few days from what is just plain dirt. I loved your view on what God must have felt when he created all of this. It makes me smile thinking that he did as he looked over what he created.
Thanks, as always, for something to think about through the day!! Finding God today.
Gardening always seems like a miracle, doesn’t it? That God gives us this task is also a blessing to those of us who love it! Thanks, Diane.
“Find God today.” Beautiful! Your description of spring is wonderful. I’ll share this with a friend I walk with, who’s always saying, “How could anyone see all of this and not believe in God?”
Blessed to read this essay.
You know already that I share your joy of spring….the way life bursts out of fullness and the reappearance of things that looked downright dead. As I read and smiled at your words it just makes me grin to think of the many details our ABBA father infused into his creativity….some I wonder if He specifically planned knowing the absolute delight it could create in us…like the loud chorus of tree frogs I heard a couple nights ago! Wow!!! Tiny creatures with a collaborative impact on the neighborhood!!! And then…. wet dirt…after days of rain… smells like worms…. why did he decide on that??
Thanks so much, Sarah!
I know…the frogs are smile worthy, the smell of worms…not so much! Thanks, Ruth!
“Creating becomes a partnership with God and, in turn, an experience with God as the Creator.” I love this! I never thought of creating in this way, but I believe you’re spot on. Except for the gardening part because, you know how I do. 🙂
Creativity comes in all forms….I think it is given by God as part of the imago deo!