originality

This semester has seemed to slip by so quickly, and I've been so busy I've just now stopped to realize that it's almost over. God has really been speaking to me as of late, which is always a good thing, so I thought I'd share a little bit of it.

As most of you know, I am an art major. I spend a lot of time creating things and working with my hands. God has gifted me with a vivid imagination and the talents to express it, yet I came to the funny realization that I am not original. I am unique, yes; in comparison to every other human being who has been, or is, or will be in existence before, now, and after me I am the only one like myself. My personality, my physical characteristics, my thoughts are uniquely my own, BUT still I am not original. All that I am both internally and externally, all that is produced by me and flows from me is not original to myself. I am not my own original idea or creation; I am God's original creation, and my every thought, idea, action, creation was first and foremost thought and breathed out by God. He is the only original. Which, when viewed that way makes me in all reality nothing more than a copycat, a follower.

The scriptures say in Gen. 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
In the beginning God created...
In the beginning God...
This is reiterated in the New Testament in John 1, saying "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made."

Without him was not anything made that was made. So nothing could be created by our hands without first God having created us by his. Therefore all that is created by our hands or thought by our minds is done because "in the beginning God"; because first God, then us; because God acted and we reacted. We reacted. We did it over, we copied it, we followed his direction.

I've noticed that there is a reason that in the Bible, we are referred to as sheep. Because like sheep we will follow anything that catches our attention, anything that seeks opportunity to lead us, and the devil is all too eager to step in and be that leader. However, rest assured he will lead us astray. He wants nothing more than to direct our focus away from God, to separate us from Him. But God is our shepherd and he is faithful. We are like sheep because he made us that way, after all, so that we would die to ourselves and follow HIM.

This whole realization is humbling as an artist, to know that nothing I create is truly my own. Yet at the same time it frees me to simply enjoy being his creation, and allow the work of my hands to bring glory to him who created me. Essentially God is bringing glory to himself through what he has already created anyway.