created to create

The other night I watched the movie Ratatouille. I know, it’s been out for a while, what’s the matter with me, right? Well, for a variety of reasons I don’t see too many movies in the theater anymore. Any way, I thought the movie did a wonderful job of providing an accurate picture of what it means to be human…even if it came through a rat…maybe there’s more to the metaphor than I realize.

Remy, the main character is a rat with a heightened sense of smell and taste who grows frustrated with the other rats in his colony because they are satisfied to eat garbage, when there are, as he puts it, food “possibilities yet explored.” Remy’s frustration deepened when his colony saw only one purpose for his gifts of heightened taste and smell, to detect poison on the food or should I say garbage that they collected. Remy could see more to his gifts, that they were meant for more then just surviving.

In fact, this is the point that draws him to admire and want to emulate humans…their ability to create. “There is something about humans, they don’t just survive, they discover, they create, just look @ what they do with food.” I think Remy’s more aware of what it means to be human than a lot of us. Far too often we are content with just surviving and we fail to realize that we weren’t created to survive but to explore, discover, & create. When you are fully alive you can’t help but create. One of the results of spirituality is creativity. The more we are connected to God and his ways, the more in touch we become with who he has made us to be. We discover that God has given us abilities, talents, intellect, skills, experiences, personality all for the purpose of creatively and uniquely expressing and expanding his goodness. The scriptures tell us that we are his work of art, his masterpiece, and the reason he created us anew in Christ Jesus is so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

What good things? Oh, the possibilities are endless and like Remy’s view of food so many of the possibilities have yet to be explored. I could easily give you a list of three or four examples of ways we can express and expand God’s goodness, but that would take all the fun out of your exploration and discovery. Instead, here a couple of tips for your journey: Stay connected to God, discover what he has already said about your life, ask Him to join you as you explore who he has made you to be. Ask him to help you discover the unique expression of his goodness he created your life to be. Don’t stop having these kinds of conversations (some people call it prayer) with him about your life and the endless possibilities of creating, expressing, and expanding his goodness. When you are fully alive you can’t help but create.