Lectio
“God is a champion of creative work, that’s for sure… But, he’s also a diligent advocate for Sabbath rest, when he and we are invited to join together in noticing, enjoying, and stewarding the life that surrounds us.”
— Steve Macchia
Meditatio
To be created in the image and likeness of the Creator (Genesis 1:27) is to be created for creativity.
Creative work is holy work. It’s noble work. It’s godly work.
Creative work is the opposite of destructive work. Of exploitive work. Of dishonest work.
To be creative is to leave the world a more beautiful place than you found it.
It is to make life more worth living for others, one word, song, or brushstroke at a time.
It is to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, the mundane into the exceptional, the material into the ethereal.
But no one can be creative all of the time. We all need a break. We all need to rest.
And what we come to find is that, in our times of rest, we are recharged and rejuvenated.
Times of rest are times of receptivity, inspiration, and revelation. In resting, we participate in the very life from which all creativity flows — the inexhaustible love and abundance of God, who rested on the seventh day and called it good (Genesis 2:2–3).
By taking time to rest in and with God, we take time to notice, enjoy, and steward the life of God that surrounds and indwells us — and it is worth noticing, it is worth enjoying, and it is worth stewarding. It is worth resting in and with the God who rests in and with us.
Oratio
divine creator
poet
painter
songster
the inspiration of all inspirations
you beckon us
to rest in you
to abide in you
to be inspired by you
you call us to create with you
but also to be still with you
to take a moment
to exhale with you
Contemplatio
What would it mean for you to treat rest not as a pause from your creative life, but as the very ground of it?
Related Scripture
“For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’” — Acts 17:28
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like The Gift of Wonder: Letting Go of Certainty and Resting in Mystery, which explores a similar invitation to release our striving — tracing the contemplative movement from grasping toward the quiet ground where God is already waiting.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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