“So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.”
Genesis 1:27
“Christianity is not about learning how to live within the lines; Christianity is about the joy of coloring.”
— Mike Yaconelli (Dangerous Wonder)
I know that this is not Bible, I have thought a lot about this and I can see no direct biblical correlation. But my topical Bible lists dozens of occupations requiring giftedness. And I know deep down that our Father is full of creativity. He has done things that are exceptionally innovative, he reveals imagination in everything he has created. Think about a butterfly, or the color purple, or, wonder about a giraffe. And your house cat is a work of intense beauty and motion that rivals anything found in the Louvre.
When we first begin to color with crayons, we are told that we must color in the boundaries. Our picture will get taped up on the classroom wall if we can manage this feat. We become aware that this ability is extrapolated into the different areas of living life. The desire to be accepted and appreciated squashes anything creative we might do.
Perhaps, these issues that involve us being creative, do need to be stifled or shut down. I suppose we could make a case out of this. We definitely as believers should avoid these theatrics, and conform into a homogeneous place of acceptability. The Japanese have a phrase, “The nail that sticks up will be hammered down.” But I wonder, why then do we desire to create and imagine things? Why do I want to write, paint, dance, sculpt, sing, and play the guitar?
Each of us carries a deep sense of aesthetics or what is beautiful. We instantly understand beauty when we see it. We stand in front of a Van Gogh in a museum, or before Michelangelo’s’ statue of David. They collectively undo us. We step back and take a deep breath. One becomes gentle in the face of such wonder and beauty. And after all, we create really for “an audience of One.”
We were built for creativity and beauty. It is part of our DNA. It also means that we have been created in God’s image. When we pick up our crayons, we are revealing his presence. When we color, our Father notes what we have done. Some may see a scrawling. But they honestly do not matter. The Father completely understands and is thrilled.
“It’s like you come onto this planet with a crayon box. Now, you may get the 8-pak, or you may get the 16-pak, but it’s all in what you do with the crayons–the colors– that you’re given. Now don’t worry about coloring inside the lines or outside the lines. I say, color outside the lines! Color right off the page!”
Waking Life
I’m of the firm opinion that we need to communicate to our children the wonderful gift of being creative. We must release them, to imagine and be inspired. We need to encourage them to use their crayons, even if they color outside the lines.
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Broken Believers 
Hi Bryan. You really hit the nail square on the head when you said…
When we first begin to color with crayons, we are told that we must color in the boundaries. Our picture will get taped up on the wall if we can manage this feat. We become aware that this ability is extrapolated into the different areas of living life. The desire to be accepted and appreciated outweighs anything creative we might do.
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Bryan, This post really touched me. Just last week my cat died suddenly, and my very creative and artistic son is quite upset about it. “Your house cat is a work of intense beauty.” Indeed, he was. And now I have the scratchboard etching my son made of him hanging in my living room. (I wish I knew how to insert a photo here so I could show you how cool it is.) I have always encouraged my son to use his gift of creativity. He sees things in a way that totally escapes me. I think if we stifle the creativity God gave us the world would be just a bitter place with no oases of beauty to help see us through. Thank you for encouraging us to color outside the lines. Peace, Linda
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