It's His. For Us. - a commentary on creativity

"Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all"  

Abraham Lincoln

It's an incredible feeling when you finally get that word, or idea that encompasses everything you are trying to communicate.  It's the 'aha' moment, when all things sort of come together.

Writing songs or blogs is something like that..when you are stuck, and then the word just comes. What a feeling of satisfaction.  The clouds part and the sun is brilliant. It feels like a glorious download from God, and I'm sure that it is as we allow Him to inspire our thoughts and process. 

What is most satisfying though, in those extraordinary times,  is the sense that what you are communicating is fresh and new, like you've made a discovery.  Any creative out there knows what I mean.

So what happens when someone else has found or said the same thing or something similar?

Does it weaken the revelation that you had?  Does it somehow make your unearthing of it less profound?  

I remember a specific point in time when I prayed for the 'word' that would encompass a collection of thoughts. My songs. I needed the title to this album...and as I read, prayed and asked God to speak into that thing...I finally had the 'aha'.  

I felt like it was mine,... unique and particular.  This was my little limited edition stamp on things.

Then I heard it, saw it, ...somewhere else.  From someone else.  It was the same concept.  A similar revelation.  The same pulse hinting to the same heartbeat.  The Exact. Same. Words.

I felt that sting....you know,  like when you show up at an event in the same dress as someone else.  Totally unoriginal. Uhhg! Or, when a good friend names her baby the same name as your baby? Ouch.

I had to process.

We all contain something given..a gift.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made, with our very own DNA, our very unique finger print, and the sum of the hairs on our head known. We do have something.  But what is more, is that we have something that is His.....Something we lay on an altar and give back.  So, there is no claiming it.

My husband would argue that there is such a thing as 'intellectual property'. What we think up, spend time creating, and originate, belongs to us.  And I would agree. When it's clear an idea has been stolen, intellectual property rights have value.  For instance, a patent on an original invention.  Like the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper, then a reputable automobile company came out with a car model showcasing intermittent windshield wipers, not giving him credit.  Like that.  That's super lame. That lacks honor, and honor is blessed.

What I'm talking about is something entirely different.  It's the story imprinted on the human heart that is just busting at the seams to be told a thousand times over, a thousand different ways.

One of my favorite speaker/author/pastors , Christine Caine, said once "The wonderful reason that we can stride into our destiny confident and undaunted, is not that we are so great, but God who is within us is so great!"

God is always speaking the same narrative. The same love letter. He doesn't change...He stays the same yesterday, today and forever.   How He chooses to say it may come in different forms, but the kingdom heartbeat remains the same. Perhaps....his use of me or you is part of that love letter , part of the narrative.  He is saying something. I can't claim it.  If he says the same thing through someone else....I want to receive it, it's not theirs either.  It's His. For us.

So when I feel like my little 'corner market' on inspiration/creativity has been seized...I remember and prefer to conclude that God is saying something that he has been saying forever, and He is working all things together.