Have you ever heard or read something that is such a simple idea, but you had never even thought of it before, and it applies so much to you? That happened to me on this retreat. It ventured into my head not as a simple idea, but as one that seemed to really hit home. I went to Joel's worship workshop Saturday morning and he explored the concept that worship is more than just singing and lifting your hands to God. I had always thought this, so I agreed with him. But then he went into more detail and started talking about art. He said something along the lines of this: when we engage in our creative abilities that God gave us (musicians, visual art, dance, minds, etc.), we are connecting with God on the deepest level! He is the Creator, and we are made creative. We become one with God when we use the creative gifts he gave us, because He is creative and lovely.
I'm going to be real and put this out there - a lot of you following my blog are my close friends and you know that I struggle with depression. Life is funny sometimes because I had been talking to Lauren about how putting together creative collaborations via blog posts had been like my anti-depressant and it just made me feel good. It made me happy to dive into a world of creativity and appreciate others' forms of creativity as well. I didn't really think about it twice, I just knew it made me happy and that's really what I cared about. Then this weekend I hear what Joel has to say and this "connecting with God on the deepest level" is finally brought to my attention. It's something I had never thought of and now I look at artsy-ness in a whole new way.
Kisses
Els
Els!!!!
ReplyDeleteIm so glad you went to retret.
And abouve else God spoke to you personally
love you girl
elsbeth! i read this blog and then just now i found this....go read february seventeenth in my utmost for his highest!
ReplyDeleteWow, I love this post! I never thought about it that way either really... or at least the way you put it, that when we're using our creative abilities we're really connecting on a deep level with God. But it makes so much sense! One of the reasons I love him so much, is because of his creativity, his art in nature, and his "loveliness" as you said... : )
ReplyDeleteLove you Elsbeth
Love this! Psalms 148, God's creations praise Him when in fact they are fulfilling the purpose for which He created them. Want to really blow your mind? I have always viewed me using my spiritual gifts at the height of my praise to God, rather than when I stand in a "worship set." Therefore, I see my best praise to God when I do things like spend weeks on dumb details like renting vans, making schedules......in order to plan a retreat for students who will then have moments like you had of genuine personal touch with God. That's worship that I know God delights in. Crazy huh?
ReplyDeleteAnnemarie I read feb 17 in utmost a few months ago and thats so kooky that it goes hand in hand with my blog post that i did feb 18. So glad you guys can relate to this, love you all!
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