Making: Our Makings vs God's Makings

I recently gave a talk on being creative. Along this line of thought: "we, having been created in the likeness of God, are mini makers/creators which leads to us being creative" and since God's first order of business (at least mentioned in the Bible) was Him creating, and the last order of business mentioned Revelations is also Him creating, we also are compelled to make.

And so, I have been rolling this idea around in my head.
Pondering how the two look (us making vs God making), how they're different, and how God intended them to be.

Here are a few of my observations, which by no means hold any authority or even wisdom but just my thoughts.

In an unusual moment of solitude I was sitting outside while the sun was setting and the sky was a brilliant orange and the clouds were a powdery violet and all the trees were becoming silhouetted and just simply marveling at God's handy work. I was moved with how breathtaking it all was, and in hindsight, I am incredibly thankful that I used those moments to just sit and watch and be.

When I think of God making in the physical world, I am struck by the fact that HIS work is alive, and living and organic and growing. It's not 100% self sufficient but it was designed with inner workings to exist through seasons and the environmental changes.
               For example: A tree still needs soil, water, sunlight, air, etc (all things that God also made) to thrive but it knows what to do when the season changed. It was designed that way. It doesn't need the level of upkeep say a house does. Houses collect dust, and don't know what to do when they get that way. A house needs to be cleaned. And even our most complex inventions aren't alive. Take technology, one drop into a bucket of water, and bye-bye smart phone or fancy computer. Look what happens to abandon buildings in this Detroit photo series.


It's eerie. Those walls weren't made to sustain such extreme temperature changes. It was built with the thinking it would be properly heated and cooled in the appropriate seasons. So the paint is peeling and the walls are falling. Trees don't need that. Sunsets don't need our help to happen and don't require our "upkeep" to be AMAZING!

On a more personal note, I've been thinking about my paintings. Their purpose, I hope, is to allow the viewer to ponder ideas that relate to God. But they will fade, become damaged, and possibly even be forgotten forever. And that's okay. It doesn't make me making them less significant. It just shows the gap between the marvel and magnificent quality of God as Creator and me as creator. Eternal vs Finite. My making was intended for worship. I will continue to think about this...probably for the rest of my life.

Here are some portions of scripture that came to mind as I was writing this:

Isaiah 55:8-9

⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and My ways are not your ways,” says the Lord. ⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. 

Matthew 6:19-21
¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.