Three words. I first read these on the information sent from my New Year’s Retreat. And I was like, “YES.”
From our friend St. Max himself, guys, “Love alone creates.”
That’s the sound of my brain exploding once again. I love this quote. Please, humor me for the next three months, ponder this and then come back and tell me how it has impacted your life.
There’s so much to think about.
Think about that God creates. He’s the initial creator. And He is also love. So there we have Love creating.
But we can also create, can we not? And when we create we, too, act in love. And we are also acting, in some way, in conjunction with God. When you make food for people you love or draw something to express the workings of your soul or pen a song to tell a story…all these things are done with God.
A few days ago I went shopping with Paul because he needed new pants. And on the way to the mall and the way back from the mall we listened to a hipster album from a brother and a sister and their musical friends-on-hipster-instruments and I remarked on the beauty of the work. We were driving by the snowmen we had made, but their heads have fallen off. Paul told me he found some rogue footprints in the snow around the snowy bases and he suspected foul play, and I wondered aloud why anyone would do that.
“Those who cannot create destroy,” Paul said.
How true it is. I saw Disney’s Frozen, right? Maybe it wasn’t everyone’s favorite movie ever (I get that), but I thought the “costuming” (in quotes because are they really costumes if they’re animated? Someone?) was stunning and the story was creative and the music was fun…and a few days after I saw it the naughty parodies began creeping around the edges of the internet. Eye roll. Why? You took someone else’s art and decided to degrade it? How trite and unoriginal and bland.
I read an excerpt from an interview with a young movie director a few weeks back. He said how important it was for people to get together and create–and build off of each other’s imaginations and creativity. Otherwise, he said, we’ll just play poker every Friday because “that’s just what we do” and before you know it, you look back and your life is gone. And have you ever had a friend whose talent/ creativity inspired yours? I sure have (I should hang out with her more often).
Stuff to ponder. So much stuff to ponder.
And so much more to create! Go forth, friends. Bake and paint and draw.
Or, as the little girl said in front of me in line at JoAnn’s, “Here’s an idea! Make a grilled cheese sandwich and slice it in half!”
Enthusiasm and creativity, I love it.
(Her other idea: buy a “fire-candle” which is her word for “candle” so when she gets up in the night for a drink of water, she doesn’t need to turn on the lights…she could just light the “fire-candle.” Her mom didn’t bite.)
I think I’m going to work on a play or cut out a skirt.
Love alone creates.