“Did you bring your Hula Hoop?” our preschool friend Katie asked Cathy as we arrived at their house. Her eyes lowered in disappointment when Cathy explained that she didn’t. That exchange helped take my mind back to the TV commercials I saw as a kid.
A company with the crazy name “Wham O” had the reputation for developing toys that kids loved and that lived up to their hype. I could be watching Dick Bills on one channel or Uncle Howdy on another channel when suddenly Roy Rogers or Popeye would cut to the latest Wham O commercial. Hula Hoop, Frisbee, Slip ’n Slide, Super Ball and Trac Ball all captured my imagination at some time or another.
For the record, Cathy can still Hula Hoop, but, for some reason, my hips don’t wiggle like they used to. I played Frisbee golf with my son-in-law Jason last year and the old guy can still fling a disk around (just not as well as the young guys). Each of those activities lived in my thinking long before being lived out in my hands (or around my waist). Each is a powerful example of creativity at work.
I mention Wham O and their very creative toys because creativity, done well, impacts us all. When I sat down in my office cubicle to write this post, Cathy was in our prayer room on the opposite end of our little office building. She and I were in the middle of a running text message conversation that started earlier, but concluded while we were under the same roof. Think about that with me for a minute...
- For most of history, verbal communication required that two people be within hearing distance of each other.
- Written communication could travel much farther, but required that it be transported to the reader or the reader come to it.
- It took creativity to come up with the telephone…a means of talking to one another while a distance apart.
- It took more creativity to write each other and transport those words electronically.
- It took even more creativity to imagine a portable device on which we can talk AND write to each other.
CREATIVITY CHANGES OUR LIVES!
This brings me to a profound truth: human creativity originated in the heart of the original Creator. His creativity is way beyond our imagination. In addition, He creates (making something from nothing) while we re-create (transforming something into something else). It is amazing that He has given us a mind to “see” things which don’t yet exist, then a heart to work until they become reality. He, though, sees things that are not yet, then SPEAKS them into being.
The creativity of the Creator: that’s our “Why Bother?” topic this weekend at Stone Ridge Church. It’s family worship weekend and I guarantee that it will stir up your imagination. Don’t miss it!
