The Creative Urge

Urges are funny things. I've had urges to eat a certain food (craving). I've had urges to perform some physical act (scratching an itch, or pick that...piece of food from my teeth). I've had urges to utter some words delivered with a certain intonation (wise crack, or acerbic comeback).

But the urge I think I feel most deeply is the creative urge. It keeps me up at night later than is prudent. Maybe I don't get enough sleep, but I disregard that and keep going. It can be a distraction or a source of restoration, or both.

The creative urge is a part of our human inheritance. Inheritance from our Heavenly Father. He is the Creator! God knew what He was doing when He gave it to us. It can be a blessing and a curse. Any potent gift is the same way. It takes wisdom and patience to employ that potent gift or it all goes awry.

My current dilemma is figuring out how to balance the creative urge action with the responsible husband, father, volunteer, and employee action. Certainly, fulfilling the creative urge for no reason other than self-satisfaction is unbalanced. So there is a lower limit, a fence over which I should not leap. And certainly there must be an upper limit.

Life is a cycle, and a cycle doesn't consist of one activity. So I have many activities, responsibilities, and obligations which all must share me. Is that a better way to look at it? "Do you want a piece of me?" I should be asking myself, "Is this activity designed for me?" And more precisely, "Has God designed this activity for me?"

There are all sorts of things in this world which have a design on me. Wisdom calls out "Fear/Respect the Lord." I recently heard one say, "Respecting another means giving them the right to tell you no!" I have to listen to God's voice, His heart, His Spirit. Is He saying "No" or "Yes"?

In the Spirit there is Life and Peace. I have a choice to listen and obey, or barrel my way through and suffer the consequences. The choice becomes easy. Not at first, but after a while. Making the right choices over time matures, seasons, calms, and steadies.

So in the end, the creative urge is just one small part of this complex life. This life requires balance, maturity, and respect. Excuse me, I have to go grow some more...