Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Books! Wonderful Books!

I have been in Book Heaven recently.
Not because before there weren't good books, but only recently have I gotten organized about it. I now have running list in progress, and whenever I think of something I want to read or get book reccomendation, I put it on the list. And I have actually been reading, too!

I just got finished with Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, for the second time, and it is an excellent book. Amazing. I have to read it at least once a year now...

Now I am reading Addicted to Mediocrity by Frank Schaeffer, which is about Christians and the Arts...I have only read the first chapter so far, but that first chapter was really great...Hence my real reason for this post.

Here is something I just read out of the book:

I have come to the conlusion
that the origin of the arts we are discussing
was nature itself and that the Master who taught us
was that divine light infused in us
by special grace, which has made us not only
superior to the animal creation,
but even, if one may say so,
like God Himself.

When I read that, I knew I liked the book. That last statement, that we are 'like God Himself', may be a provocative one, but it's true. When I read it, I got mental image of God putting his fingerprints on us as He creates us...Breathing the breath of life into each of us. Giving us a piece of Himself. We each God in us.

As I read, I could see my sister writing, or drawing, whichever, next to me. And I could sense the God in her. I could sense the God in me. I could sense that each and every human has the fingerprints of God all over them...That we each have the characteristics of God. This may sound new agey...You know, the whole, "God is everything" concept, but that's not what I'm getting at.

What I mean is that creativity is a godly characteristic. When we create something beautiful, we are following the example of god...When we love someone, we are also following God's example.

Great, isn't it?

1 comment:

justjuls said...

That was one of the things that resonated with me out of that book as well - that we Create because we are the image of our Creator - yes marred - but nonetheless - in His image.
The other cool thing is how he makes the argument that the arts belong to God - all creative efforts - not just the ones that fit into the "Christian" genre.
Good book - I thought you'd like it.