Yesterday I went back to the English classes I guest taught last week to hear the stories they wrote. The eighth and ninth graders used the hero’s journey to structure their stories, most of them taking the bones we created last week and fleshing them out, a few going down a different path. Let me tell you, those kids stepped up. We had psychadellic horror (Mich, Chris–you guys would’ve been so proud), a more Catcher in the Rye feel (with a scruffy beagle), a Disney bent story, a mafia tone. We had it all. One girl had perfect dialogue and character development. Another did an amazing job with her POV. One guy–the horror guy–well, we’ll have to watch for him. His descriptions, tension, and flow almost made me jealous.
And the sixth graders with their Halloween stories–scary, gory, and with humor. All creative.

Here’s my point–when do we unlearn creativity?

I taught junior highers at a church for a bit. Loved it. At one point, I taught a series on the life of Jacob. From the beginning, I told them that at the last session, they would teach me. They could use whatever method they wanted to embody the story. It’s church. Not required. I didn’t expect much.

I was wrong.

These kids, ever single one of them, not only worked hard to prepare something, but they all displayed creativity in different ways–song, drama, powerpoint, drawing. And they got the point of the whole series. They understood.

As adults, we stop being creative. We’ve told ourselves one too many times that we’re not creative, that fingerpaints isn’t good enough, that creativity is for a few people who are left-brained (or is it right-brained? I can never keep that straight!). Or we’re too busy. Who has time for creativity? By the end of the day, about all we can do is flop on the couch with a remote.

So I have a challenge. (Chal-lunge! What movie is that from? Where some sumo-type guy walks around saying, "Chal-lunge!") Actually, it’s two part.

Part one: go to SoulPerSuit to register to win a coffee cuff. I shouldn’t tell you this because if you register, then I have less of a chance to win one, but Erin (of They Hang Like Paper Lanterns notoriety) is one of the coolest people I know. If she could bottle some of her creativity, it would sell like iPods, and you need to know about this particular product she’s handmade.

Part two: color in a coloring book or use fingerpaints or sculpt with Play-Doh or doodle with fun gel pens (the sparkly ones are the best). Personally, I have recently discovered an obsession with yarn: fuzzy yarn, sparkly yarn, ribbony yarn, yarn that looks like Mardi Gras, yarn that feels like kitten fur, yarn that has reminds me of dreadlocks. So I’m spending the weekend knitting. I’ll color some too. Report back on Monday.

You know what I think? (Well, you must have some curiosity on the subject seeing as how you’re reading this blog.) Since all of us have a piece of the image of God embedded in us, we all have the capacity for creation and creativity–not that we can create from nothing, conjuring up dust into humans, but we can all create. The question is, will we?