There’s been an ongoing debate I’ve been watching about whether creativity and content creation can follow a formula. I’ve been mulling over this and finally have an answer.
Earlier this week I got to spend time with a writer/author friend of mine who was speaking at a local college. And during our conversation the answer started to come to me. As my friend spoke on God’s faithfulness I began to consider the overlap between God’s faithfulness and content creation.
We all want to experience God’s faithfulness but we don’t want to wait for it.
We all want to make a difference with our lives but we don’t any extra burdens.
We all want to create incredible things but we don’t want to wait for inner transformation.
As I was writing out the my own major life events (both good and bad) of the past three years, I had over a year where nothing came to mind.
I spent five minutes thinking about it. I asked my wife. Still nothing. And then finally it clicked.
WAITING.
For 18 months my life had one “event” and it was called waiting. This exercise of charting out my most recent years of life led to this discovery: God’s faithfulness always involves silence and waiting.
I guess it would be possible to wonder whether God disengages from us when we are sensing silence, but I believe that God is at work underneath the surface preparing us for something we haven’t imagined was possible. You see, God does not exist simply outside of time, outside of this world, watching from above, waiting for all the things He has orchestrated to take place. No, God stepped into time and pursued us.
Creation is not something you do, it’s something that first happens in you. God works to transform you and subsequently you are able to create through the power of the Creator.
So back to the initial question: Is there a formula for content creation? Absolutely yes.
The reason no one ever says this is true is because the formula is one of the hardest things a person can go through.
It goes like this:
Waiting.
Listening to the Silence.
Discerning.
Moving Without Direction.
Waiting.
And in the midst of this God shows Himself to be fully faithful to us. He transforms us in this process and we are able to transform the world because of it.
I’m glad there’s not an easier way.
(Many thanks to Anne for helping me make this discovery.)
