January 18, 2012

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  To Create

  What does it take to bring something into being,
  something that simply did not exist?
  Can you imagine a time “before time?”

  The God we worship is not concerned about such constraints;
  God works totally outside our perceptions of time and space.

  This is the God who awaits you now in quietness.
  Seek the freedom to be in touch with your Creator.

      

  Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
  And God saw that the light was good;
  and God separated the light from the darkness.
  God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.
  And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

  Genesis 1:3-5

  
  

  

  Imagine that first moment light came to be. All I can equate it to is going into a room
  in the middle of the night and clicking the light on, only to be blinded momentarily.

  God did this from nothingness. God spoke light into being from the darkness.
  Does light still require creativity?
  Sure, Thomas Alva Edison had to be creative to create the light bulb,
  but let’s think for a minute about creating light from darkness.
  Light and darkness take many forms, especially using them to describe situations.
  Human trafficking is darkness. Disease due to unclean drinking water is darkness.
  War orphans live in darkness.

  Creativity is a light in several ways.
  God gives you passion, gifts, and talents to share light in the world.
  One way to use creativity is to shed light in places where darkness reigns.
  Another is to be creative in finding solutions.
  Creativity gives you unlimited ways to be Christ’s presence in the world.

  ~Brian Foreman

  

    Jesus, God of Light and Creation, thank you for creating me to think, act, and create.
  My prayer is that You continue to direct me in ways that use my gifts and passions
  to share Your Light with the world. Amen.

  

  Creator God we sing, a hymn of joy we’re making;

  Our grateful love we bring, as the new day’s light is breaking.

  God made the sea and land; the sun and stars came rolling

  From God’s own loving hand, their Creator’s love extolling. Alleluia, alleluia!

  From “Cantemos al Creador” by Carlos Rosas

  
  

  

  Expressions of the creative spirit come through song, through fine art, through poetry and drama.
  Expressions of God’s creative spirit are found in
  sunsets, mountain ranges, rushing rivers,
  and the pattern on the back of a turtle’s shell.

  Take a moment to experience and appreciate the creative spirit of God,
  who weaves together colors, sounds, tastes, and smells
  with laughter, voices, prototypes, and music.
  While God created from the void, we create from what God has made
  and what God has given us the ability to imagine.

  The psalmist expressed appreciation through praise of God.
  God is credited with strength, glory, and graciousness.
  All things are given by God to the people of God.

  Read the words of the psalm aloud and imagine the sounds and sights
  used to describe the power, majesty and awe known to be God.
  Ultimately, David’s prayer of blessing is that God give God’s people strength and peace
  for the journey that is life.

  ~Brian Foreman

  

  “Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

  Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in holy splendor.

  The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders,
  the Lord, over mighty waters.

  The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty….

  The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.

  May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!”

  
  Psalm 29:1-4,10-11

  

   God of glory, I pray for the peace that You give.
  I pray for the strength that is Yours and worship You
  in the splendor of the created order around me.
  For in You all things were, are, and ever will be. Amen!

  Photos taken in our home in the bright, morning sunlight
  with excerpts from
  http://www.d365.org/todaysdevotion/

   

  • 12:20 am
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