Living A Life of Creativity
Are you creative? Mr. Jonathan McNair began the recent forum by posing this question to the students. He put forth a passion for this topic and how it relates to our Father in Heaven.
The Creative Process
After presenting the question, Mr. McNair used a video to demonstrate the process of creativity. The video was of a man who sat down at the piano, and wrote a short piece of music for himself and an orchestra in 10 minutes. All he used for inspiration was a few lines of text from a program of the evenings musical performance. He asked the audience for a “key” in which to write, and began to create. The end product was a powerful mini-ballad, amazing the audience as they listened to his work brought musically to life.
God Is Creative
Mr. McNair dug in and emphasized just how creative the Creator of this world is. God did not have to make such a variety of scenery or taste, yet he did. Genesis 1:26 says: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Mr. McNair pointed out mankind was created in the image of God, and he also instilled in us the desire to be creative.
Biblical Craftsmanship
He went on to show examples from the Bible of God’s guidance concerning creative projects. The guidance that God gave to Noah in Genesis chapter 6, is very detailed. “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. 15 And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.” Exodus 31 shows God’s guidance to create works of art as well; “And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 4 to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, 5 in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.”
Making it Personal
To make the topic real in the student’s daily lives, Mr. McNair brought out a personal story of how remarkably man can use the creativity he was given. He shared how he is reviewing the project for the new hymnal and that it is inspiring to witness just how much creativity God has provided within the church. He then went on to warn that creativity must be used, lest it be taken away.
Keys To Creativity
To wrap up his forum, Mr. McNair brought to light what he called three keys to achieving creativity. The first was, “Use patterns for success.” He said that when you look at it, there are patterns everywhere; use these patterns to your advantage. The second key is, “Get the little things right.” Mr. McNair established that when a chance for a grand creative endeavor appears, if you do not have the fundamentals down then that chance will pass you by. The final point is, “Work in harmony.” He told the students that they shouldn’t view others as stepping stones to get them where they want to go and then leave, but instead care for the people and the connection during the creative process
Mr. McNair left the students with a challenge. “I challenge you to live a creative life!”
