For several years now I've watched episodes of Bob Ross' "The Joy of Painting" to go to sleep or to relax. When I've felt most depressed, Bob Ross has been the cheery friend that helps me see that it's not all bad in this world. And when I've felt most anxious, he has been there as the calming voice to reassure me that all will, in the end, be well.
When I was getting ready to graduate from Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan College, I was struck by the fact that I was getting ready to have free time again. My counselor advised me that we needed to come up with a plan for me to fall back on in this new found free time, and so she gave me a list of "Things To Do When You're Bored." I tried several things off the list but none of them really stuck. One day, as I was on the phone with my parents, my father jokingly asked when I was going to pick up painting.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Well you've been watching Bob Ross paint so much, I was just curious when you were going to start painting along with him."
That was all the inspiration I needed. I pulled some funds together and scoured the web for good (but still cheap) paint supplies. I went to our local craft store and supplemented what I had found online. Eventually I was ready with a new easel, a few canvases, and a half dozen colors of oil paints. I was ready.
I pulled up a video on Netflix of a mountain scene from Bob Ross first. I played it through, simply enjoying the calming brush strokes of the master painter. But once the video was over, I started it at the beginning again; this time pulling out my paints and brushes and diving head first into what would become a new found love.
I was captivated from the moment the brush first touched the canvas. I was surprised at myself, because time seemed to stand still while I was painting. It was only after the fact that I realized I had been painting for over an hour. I stood back, admiring my finished work. It wasn't perfect. The colors weren't as vibrant and the scene didn't seem quite as tranquil and realistic as Bob Ross's painting at the end of the episode. But it was mine. I had created something beautiful, even if it was only beautiful to me.
There aren't too many things that I hold tightly to anymore as hard and fast truths. But one thing I do hold on to - we are made in the image of God. And if God is Creator, then we too are made with creative potential. This doesn't mean that everyone is a painter. Or a dancer. Or a singer. Or a composer. Or even a writer. It does mean, though, that we have a need and, dare I say it, a responsibility to create.
I don't know what you need to do to live into your creative potential as a human being created in God's image. But I encourage you to find something. There are few things as beautiful as being able to stand back from a work that you have created and know that your own hands are what brought that production into existence. I encourage you to try new things. Learn new things. Dare to fail and try multiple times. Dare to grow into a creator of beautiful things.