Imago Dei

Creativity is infectious. When there are others around me seeking to produce creative work, this spurs my own production. This is why I’m part of a creative community. I work in solitude, but not alone. Similarly, consuming high-quality creative work provides me with energy for producing my own.

Over the last several weeks I’ve been to two art museums. Thanksgiving weekend I enjoyed a visit with friends to the Art Institute of Chicago. Yesterday, my daughter Lydia and I went to Newfields, the Indianapolis Museum of Art. 

Walking through these galleries and exhibits, my creative tank is filled. While in awe of the skills of others, I also gain perspective, ideas, and energy for my own creative effort. While I don’t work in the same medium as those populating these spaces, we are all in pursuit of an aesthetic, a collective effort to represent our chosen content in an engaging, surprising, and informative way. We are all responding to our own design.

We are made in the image of a Creator, a Creator who reimagined Himself and walked among us. We are creative because He is creative. When I observe creative work I’m seeing evidence of this fact. And when I join in producing creative work, I’m adding to the chorus.