Why Your Creativity Matters to God: Reclaiming Imagination and Purpose

Hi.

In today's episode, we are going to talk about why it's so important for us to tap into being created in the image of God.

And what I'm talking about is tapping into our creativity, our imagination, our curiosity, and our ability to be creative problem solvers.

And why that is so important, especially in the age of AI and just the advances in technology.

Welcome to Faith Fueled Living, the podcast that equips you to live well spiritually, emotionally, physically, and purposefully.

Each week, we'll dive into conversations and biblical truths to help you strengthen your faith, pursue meaningful work, hear for your whole self, and live in line with what matters most.

All right, so let's jump in.

As I mentioned, we're going to talk about are we actually tapping into our humanness?

And by that, what I mean is, are we actually tapping into parts of us that are like God, meaning our creativity, our imagination, our vision, our purpose, and our ability to create legacy, to look down the road.

And the thing is, the reason I worry about this is because as AI is taking hold, its being put into more tools and products.

It's doing more work for us because we have our phones in our fingertips so often, or our computers, and we can just search Google for the answers.

Are we losing our curiosity?

Are we letting the most creative parts of us that make us different than animals, right?

That human part of us, I mean, of course our souls, but also these other things.

Are we wasting it or ignoring it or forgetting about it?

And what I would say is this is so important that we pick those pieces back up, because I believe that partnering with God and using these gifts that he gave us that are in his image are so important, right, to society, to our own purpose and reason for being here.

And so today we're going to talk about a little bit of scripture that points us to being creators like God.

And then I'm going to share just a couple quotes and things with you that I hope will encourage you to tap back into these parts of yourself.

And the first thing I want to share is from Genesis 1:27.

It says, or it tells us that God created mankind in his own image.

And then in Exodus 35, 35, scripture says he has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers, all of them skilled workers and designers.

He then Talks in Exodus 31:1 through 6 about filling basilos with the spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, and with knowledge, and.

And with all kinds of Skills, he was an artisan.

And so once again we're given examples of the creativity, the artistic ability, our ability to make things with our hands and to create things with our minds and our words, just as God created the world with his words, just as he created us with his imagination and his hands.

And I think sometimes we allow distraction, the pace of life, wrong priorities, or too much busyness to get in the way of us continuing to create or make.

Bob Goff talks about this idea of us getting distracted and it sometimes getting in the way in his book called Undistracted.

And he says this, don't feel bad about all the things that have been grabbing your attention.

We all become distracted at some point.

It is somehow built into our operating systems.

We become distracted from our goals and greater purposes by our temporary circumstances.

We can be distracted by each other and even away from God and what we really believe to be true.

Sadly, the boatload of goodness we could bring to the world is being scuttled by the many things that carry us so far away from the dock.

We can no longer make the leap back to shore.

We get stuck in the past, worry about the present, or get distracted by the future.

We no longer lean into our lives right where we are, but instead lean away from them and become individuals who bear little resemblance to the people God intended us to become.

And I think it goes even beyond this, like I said today, it goes beyond all of the distractions and it goes, it speaks to this idea of AI.

Some of the newer data is saying that if for those people that use chat GTP regularly right to create, writing or work for them.

And I'm even talking about just work work to create like an email or marketing.

So I'm not necessarily talking about fully creative work, I'm just talking about being more productive or quicker, but it is making us less intelligent.

We some people are starting to talk more like chat gtps natural language instead of how they spoke in their own humanness before.

So what I'm saying is we're on this precipice where AI and technology is moving so fast.

We are, it's getting used by so many people.

We have to be careful that it doesn't keep us from creative expression.

It doesn't keep us from understanding our purpose, our vision and doing more about that and being less distracted.

So I'm sharing this episode today just to put it on our radar that we need to be aware.

We need to make sure that the one thing that makes us unique, that makes us in God's image is our ability to create, to imagine, to be curious, to see things beyond the surface, to see things that what of that could be in the future?

Right.

That's that whole tying together our imagination, our creativity, our vision.

And while ChatGPTP or AI, right, all different types are doing amazing things now where video you.

It's getting hard to tell if a entirely created video or movie is real or not.

And it's only going to get more so that way.

And yes, a lot of industries, a lot of people are going to lose jobs or at least lose jobs in the way that they understand it or know it or work now.

And that is hard to grapple with.

I agree.

It's hard for me to envision that type of future.

But what I do know is we are resilient.

You know, as humans, but especially as Christians, we're resilient, we are imaginative, we are creative, we are resourceful, we are persistent.

But we have to be aware of what's going on and we have to be aware of what we might lose if we spend too much time with tools and technology instead of spending time and co creating with God.

And so I think this is, it's really important.

We also have to be careful how much time are our kids spending on their devices and with these AI features and abilities?

Because I will tell you, I have three young adult sons at home.

Two are in college and one's finished college.

Now I know they're on their devices more than they should be, but it's a really hard balance though because they're now adults, you know, and I don't mean using AI, but you know, they, whether it's video games or watching YouTube videos or whatever it might be.

So what I'm saying is I see that we're too tied to these devices.

So many of us, right, a lot of us probably need to take a social media or a phone or a computer or a Netflix break, right?

We need to just go a cold turkey for a little bit and pull ourselves back.

I know I am just as guilty of some days going on my phone more than I should or watching a couple shows in the evening, you know, at 8:00'.

Clock.

But the point is, is if we don't actually create space in our lives, if we don't slow down, we will not have space to be creative, to be expressive, to be inventive.

And one of the things is stillness allows us to make room for creativity.

We need space and free time.

We need margins in our schedules in order to be creative and imagine or to Problem solve in a creative way.

And if we don't do this, we risk losing our uniqueness.

We're all created in God's image, but he all created us differently.

We remember every single one of us has a unique fingerprint.

I believe it's also a unique eye, right, Your actual eye, print and other unique qualities.

Meaning that each one of us is such an individual with our own gifts and skills and talents and perspective and passions.

But we've got to make room for this.

And we also have to make sure that as AI does more in the world, right, as it does more jobs, as it creates more art.

And by art, I don't mean human art.

I mean art being replaced like movies or imagery.

I think there's going to be a call or a pull and I think it's already started back towards the real thing, right?

Human created with our hands, with our own passion, pouring in our own expression of as we co create with God onto a canvas, into a song, into a dish of food that because we tasted and simmered and waited, we had patience, taste like no AI could ever create by knowing every single thing about every ingredient, every recipe.

Because when AI creates something, while it might get close, it does not have our souls, it does not have our experience.

It might have information about our experience, it might have information about past authors, about patterns, about all the things together, but it is lacking being co creating with God.

It is lacking, you know, being a human.

And so while it might get close or it might look similar, I, I believe it's missing that element.

So I actually think those of us that listen to this call, those of us that are creative, that we tap into our, our passions, we tap into creating with our hands, making things.

And like I said, this can be anything.

This is not just painting or writing or making songs, which those are all part of this.

It could be what you make in the kitchen.

It could be stories from your family history that you want to write down.

It's a legacy for your family and for others for generations.

It might be that you're choosing now.

Just like stories tell us in history that people are looking out for future generations, we do things now because we have the vision to do something to bless future generations.

But that's being creative, that's imagining a future for them where seeds we plant today will actually in 20 years or 30 years produce fruit for them.

I also think there's two groups or maybe three groups of people.

One are the people that no matter what culture, society told them, they tapped into some part of their maker spirits or their creative spirits.

And regardless of their daytime professional job, they're doing things with their hands.

They are making things.

Whether it's in the kitchen or they're making scarves as gifts, or they're, they're learning to play, you know, an instrument or whatever it might be, they're tapping into this part of them that's human.

This part of them that they know deep down fills their soul and is what God's calling us to do, right, is to create, to make, to imagine.

And then there's those of us that get got caught up in listening to the world that said, you need to have a serious job, you need to have a high paying job.

And some of us, we ignored our own spirit, we ignored our own soul that we knew it felt like the wrong direction.

And that's okay, we do have to pay the bills.

But I say all that just to say, for some of us, it may be that we need to pick up the bowl and the spoon.

It may mean be that we need to pick up a paintbrush or we need to pick up a pen and paper or whatever else we can imagine.

But for some, it's that we may need to actually change the path we're on because whatever we're doing now is crushed our soul and we're actually meant to do something else.

Emily P. Freeman, in her book A Million Little Ways, shares something about this.

She says, I love her answer because I think she put into words what so many people feel.

There's a real pull between exploring those things that make us come alive while at the same time being present to our responsibilities in our life stages.

But why do we so often assume that pursuing those things we want to pursue can only be done at the expense of our responsibilities?

Why can't we recognize and embrace the connection between the kind of art we long to make and the reality of our truest identity?

What if you desire to do a particular thing because God created you in a particular way, not to tease you or to make you miserable, but to actually mold you into becoming more like him for his glory and the benefit of others?

Could it be possible that the thing you most long for, the thing you notice and think about and wish you could do, is the thing you were actually made and are being equipped to do, could also be possible that somewhere along the way you got the message that to follow desire would be selfish, when really it would be the opposite.

Because I don't know when to keep my big nose out of other people's business.

I Asked this reader some of those questions.

Her answer, it could be possible.

Okay.

And then I just want to share one other thing.

She says.

She says, today, as we face our face, our dishes, our proposals, our classrooms full of the future, as we sit to create, to write, and to live on purpose, may the promise of growth outweigh our fear of stumbling.

May we remember how swiftly perfect love dries out fear.

May we know that what it means to make art with our hands, in our souls, with our lives.

May our thousand brilliant excuses spin around into one brilliant act of belief.

And before that, she actually said this.

I should have shared.

Dare to get a sense of yourself in the world as you live and breathe and are.

If it's true that in him you have your being, in him you move and exist, then you have value and weight, not the kind of weight you want to lose and get rid of, the kind that makes it possible for you to move into the world with courage, security, and as if you know you have something to offer and where your life comes from.

And she also says this.

She says, what if we approach the critic, our jobs, the kids at our table, with the same wonder and anticipation an artist has when she approaches the canvas.

What if we decided to believe our purpose in this world really is reflect the glory of God?

And friends, I just think it's time to tap into this part of ourselves, if we have not already, and if we are, I would just say keep going.

Even as we start to see AI continue to make some of the movies that will be coming out soon, or more images, I mean, even interviews, everything.

I mean, AI is going to, if it's not already, it's going to start giving people their medical appointments and diagnosis.

It's going to do stuff in the legal space, in so many spaces.

And so we don't want that to dishearten us.

Yes, we do have to educate ourselves on what's going on, and we need to understand it, but we also want to remember that we are literally created in God's image and AI is something different.

Yes, it's.

It has so much information and it's learning at crazy speeds the amount of knowledge.

I also want to share what Amy McNee says in her book, we need your art.

She says, we think that art merely decorates the world, but it changes it.

And I think that's the thing, friends, when we use the word art, we are not just talking about people that paint pictures and sing songs.

We are literally talking about you, sharing yourself, your soul, your experiences and your story.

And in the world or with another person in some way that is powerful.

And if we do it, when, if we do it, we can and are normally partnering with God.

So in that we are also giving glory to God of how he created us and that he is within us, the Holy Spirit is in us.

And so I think that's so exciting and promising.

But I also think, like I said, we need to ask ourselves these questions.

Am I making space in my life to be creative or to be curious and to imagine a different future, a better future?

Or at least imagine how I can leave a beautiful legacy in the world.

That can be through donations, it can be through volunteering, it can be through making things, it can be through sharing your story, your testimony, right?

There's so many ways.

It can be through gardening, through doing flower arrangements and giving them to your neighbors, okay?

But it's to understand our purpose, our vision, but to also tap into this, these beautiful abilities that God's given us and that He Himself shows us, right?

Of creating, of imagining, of being clear.

Right on, on this.

And so, so that's the first thing is are you making space in your life?

Are you thinking about this as part of your humanness?

Are you also thinking that if we don't use these abilities, what happens if we stopped being creative, being imaginative and as AI rises and we are all, it's, you know, in, in every part of the world, what happens?

Right?

What happens?

Part of us continuing on is actually to continue to create.

And then I would also say the other thing we need to ask ourselves, what I mentioned before is not only are we wasting it or ignoring it or forgetting about, right, our creativity, our imagination, using our tapping into our curiosity, tapping into co creating with God.

But are we too distracted?

Is the pace of life, the speed of life too fast in which we are just going to a job and we're going through the motions, but we aren't really tapping into our, these gifts, this ability we have as a human.

And then what are we focused on?

Are we focused on purpose and our God given dreams?

Are we focused on on priorities and creating a beautiful legacy both for, you know, how we're showing up in the world and to shine a light on God's kingdom?

Or are we focused on other things above and beyond that that are actually just distractions?

They are taking our eyes off of why we're here and how we are to show up and to love and to, to connect with people and to connect with God and to deepen these relationships.

And so yes, today I just come on and say, are we losing our humanness?

Are we forgetting to be creative, passionate, imaginative, curious, purpose focused, filled, vision filled people?

Because I think that's what God, that is how he created us.

But it's also what the future is going to need.

It's going to need us to create.

Even as we see AI creating, we, we have to remember that that is our call to keep creating.

Because if not, what, what future will that be?

And so like I said, this is not a to scare us.

It's just to say we don't really know exactly what the future looks like as far as day to day, right?

Or what type of job we might have, or what type of work we might be doing in a couple years or whatnot.

But we can know that we are creative beings.

You know, even just deciding how you're going to garden, if you garden, or maybe you've never gardened yet, but you want to what where you put the seeds and how you plant the beds and you know, where you put flowers in those beds along with the vegetables and all.

It's not only determines how you kind of keep away pests and if you bring in the pollinators, but it also is creating something beautiful that you or the people that come through and see your garden will also enjoy and appreciate.

It's still a way to be, to express ourselves and to be creative.

And so I think we have to start seeing this in, in ourselves.

And I, believe me, I talk to people often that say, oh, I'm not creative.

But the truth of the matter is when they've pulled children that are in kindergarten or first grade, almost every child raises their hand when they say are you an artist or are you creative?

Because they believe it to be so, because they are creative.

It is actually through going to school and other things that culture starts making us hesitate.

It starts getting us, many of us, to tamp down our creativity, tamp down our uniqueness or like how we want to express ourselves.

And so many of us stop, we kind of turn off the faucet of creativity or using our imagination for bigger and more interesting things.

We, we turn off ourselves self expression because someone told us they didn't like that idea, or it wasn't what the assignment was, or we didn't do a good job, or they didn't get what we drew, or they didn't get what we said or whatever it is.

And so we have to remember that it may be that we've turned the faucet off and we need to, to start opening the faucet of our creativity and our imagination.

And you know, when you're praying, you know, some days you might just ask God to show you again to help you open that back, that part of you back up, because that is part of how God made you in his image to create just as he created.

And so I think this is actually really important and I think it's worth spending a little time thinking about.

And listen, I understand some of the arguments that you might be thinking right now.

Are you kidding me?

I don't even have time to take a five minute break or to take a deep breath.

And you're talking about something that seems like a luxury.

But I'm telling you this is not a luxury.

This is part of your design.

And we have got to start tapping back into it.

I would also say people that make things create things.

I are using creative problem solving that are curious.

And us, you, when you use your hands, there's actually something that happens in your brain.

I forget the name of it right now.

It's some sort of reward circuit.

But we were designed to do that.

And so when we do that, we have the good endorphins happen, but we have this sense of accomplishment that's different than just going through a busy day or just maybe looking at a spreadsheet.

Not saying those are bad, I'm just saying those things may not fulfill us in the same way.

And so when we, when we turn that part of us off or when we don't give it time or space, we are usually going to be less satisfied or fulfilled and less content or joyful, actually.

And so this is my call to all of us to just say, tap back into your creativity.

Tap back into your curiosity, to your imagination, to giving yourself a little free time to play and frolic, if you will.

Because it matters.

I mean, it matters more than you can imagine.

I remember when my kids were little, we would go put on our rain jackets and our rain boots or maybe barefoot if it was a hot summer day and they would splash and jump and run and play in the water and I would go with them and I would, you know, run around in it too.

But for just a minute, I felt like I was a kid again, right?

Like all the worries of the day or what I had to get done washed away with that rain and the puddles and the jumping and seeing my kids laughing, then we need to get back to there.

We need to get back to there.

Find the laughter, find the joy, find those moments, even if it's only for a moment, every day.

Take a minute, doodle whatever it is, but start tapping back into this part of your things.

This can be making a beautiful dinner.

It can be singing a song, writing a song.

It could be dancing, Right?

It can be anything.

And I want to share with you just a beautiful some beautiful words from author Rachel Marie Kang from her book Let There Be Art.

Okay, so she says, when you finally find yourself ready to sit down at your desk to write, or in that studio to paint, or in that sanctuary to speak, or at that sunrise wedding to photograph, or on that stage to dance, or in that shed to make, or in your living room to play piano or in that classroom to theorize, or in your kitchen to chop thyme or cilantro or parsley or any other herb you need to make that recipe from your grandmother's treasured cookbook or wherever it is that you stand on your stand or kneel or walk or sit to create and cause beauty to be in beam.

From the hollow of your hands you will find that everything, I mean everything, will rise up against you.

Every holy hard and impossible thing will rise up to greet you, will shake hands with you, remind you that you of the painful truth that has been true of every beautifully created being since the beginning of time.

The truth is that none of this is easy.

None of our living, none of our loving and certainly none of our longing to create.

You will come to question, just like I have, if it really is the right time to consider writing a book or taking up poetry or planting a garden or homeschooling your children between the small walls of your borrowed home.

And later, she says, I imagined you would find yourself in this curious place of questioning, in a place of wondering if the cosmos really is parting wide open and welcome you to partake in the age old practice of wielding wonder and making things.

I knew that you would find yourself in a place of wanting to make things not merely for the sake of making a name for yourself, but more so for the fact that not doing so might reduce you to an exhale, a breath that came into the work, this world and quickly departed.

But basically she's just explaining that we were all created.

And she says her tagliner book is the pleasure and purpose of unleashing the creative creativity within you.

She goes on to talk about how creativity allows us, you know, it's, it's how we partner with God.

She says this is the way of God that every one of us would see that we too are people in a place with a purpose coming up against the chance to persevere Our lives are stories lived within a greater story, like paragraphs on a page.

Our lives make up the narrative of a grander novel.

And it isn't just happening to you, it's happening through you.

If you're somebody that has continued to be creative, that's tapped into these parts yourself, I'd love to hear how and maybe a practice that you have to keep just doing this to be creative and imaginative and curious and are you sharing it with the world?

I'd love for you to connect with me.

You can either contact me through my website Kristinfitch.com you can, you can send me an email and if you're not, tell me did something in this episode kind of click for you and that you have felt this longing or this want to tap into something, to start a new hobby, to learn how to play an instrument, to write something that's been on your heart to share.

So I'd love to hear from you.

It's Kristin, KristenFitch.com you can email me or KristenFitch.com also, if you haven't done it already, head on over to my website KristinPitch.com, join my community.

I send out weekly emails to encourage you, inspire you, lift you up and just try to change your perspective and help you deepen your faith, deepen your relationships and just improve your wellness, mind, body and spirit.

It's whole life rooted in faith.

Also, I have several free workbooks you can go and grab for a limited time.

One of them is called reignite your passion and it literally helps you tap back into you and how God created you uniquely and where's that intersection of your skills and talents and your passion and what it is you should be moving towards in your future.

So I'd love for you to join us once again.

Head over to Kristin Fitch if you enjoyed today's episode.

If you could leave a rating review on Apple podcast or review wherever you listen to podcasts.

It helps the show get discovered by more people so that we can continue to uplift and encourage people in their faith journey as well as all of the other parts of their lives.