Praying with Big Magic: Permission

Creative and Creating God
Maker of all that sparks us to live and breathe.

We are made to create, to bring art to life where ever we are.
We are the descendants of the ones
who made aqueducts and ancient roads
the ones who made cups and plates and vases and bowls from earth,
the ones who made the fabric of life at the hearth and the loom,
the ones who made every cave and chapel into a vibrant canvas
that sparks the sacred and celebrates life.

We are made to create, to bring art to life where ever we are.
Making is our birthright.

But we are afraid we aren’t qualified,
we need a paper, a diploma or a certificate to frame.
We need a permission slip from the Principle and magnet on Mom’s fridge
or maybe a teacher who honors our dots in swirly gold frame.

We are flashes of the creative spark and partners in making
We are the quilters and weavers and painters and singers,
we are photographers and filmmaker and song writers that decorate the mind with words
we bake and glue and whittle and measure and patch and knit and fashion the very stuff of life.

But we get shy and unsure about what defines “Real Art.”
We get caught up in ego, worried about criticism and terrified of rejection,
even if critiques might offer vital insight.
We start to value our craft by the zeros on checks
we weigh our worth in social media likes and critical acclaim,
we want to go viral, we want to be the most or the best,
we will only do it if we can win a Tony or a Grammy or a spot at the Louvre,
And in all of this we forget to just be.

Making is our birthright,
We don’t need permission or fortune or fame.
You, Loving God, whisper,
just make what is alive in your heart
just be who you are.

Just make and bake and dream and craft and write
just fashion and strum and sing,
just paint your own ceiling with as much heart as Michelangelo.

Making is our birthright;
May we make You proud,
doing this creative work from the depth of who we are.
Being the dancers who choreograph a new way.
Being the weavers who knit love and keep the bitter winds at bay.
Being the poets willing words into stanza and verse,
prose and policy that makes life abundant for all.

Being, Making and Tending the creative spark, just as we are.
May it be so.

Amen