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You are an artist

You are made to be creative. We all are.

I bet you started strong. There was undoubtedly some refrigerator art and play dough sculptures and possibly even some crayon on the wall that had to be scrubbed clean. Creativity is hardwired in all of us. And that make sense really - because everywhere you look, from the intricacy of the tiniest flower to the vast canvas of a sunset - you can see the fingerprints of the great Creator that your life reflects.

    SUG Easter Egg
My dad still makes eggs each year and this year agreed to make one in honor of our SignUpGenius Easter Egg contest! Not bad, eh? It's not an official entry, but be sure to check out our other eggs and enter yourself!
 
That's something that was breathed into me from an early age. My parents made everything a creative adventure. There were the elaborate Christmas cookies that were almost too detailed to eat… the over-the-top sand castles… the ingenious hand-made Halloween costumes… and around this time of year, the Ukrainian Easter eggs. We did everything with passion.

That was some fertile creative ground - and it definitely shaped me. As a college student and in my twenties and early thirties I had an insatiable drive to create. I studied film/video, moved to Los Angeles, and was obsessed with creating culture-shaping, paradigm-shifting projects. I was never satisfied and was always trying to figure out how to create the next big film.

In the last decade, though, the realities of mortgages and minivans and pee-wee soccer leagues gradually caught up to me. As happens to a lot of folks, the big dreams had to take a back seat to life. To be honest, it was a little depressing. When the dreams got shelved, it felt like the creative side of me had to be boxed up with it.

But lately I've been realizing that I was missing the whole point of all those early lessons in creativity. I'd been doused in a culture of Oscars and Emmys and American Idol… and I started to believe that being the artist I was created to be meant that I had to be the best and become world famous and change everything.

I think that what I missed from those early lessons in creativity… is that all of life can be art. We can reflect the creativity and excellence of God in every small thing that we do. There is an absolute beauty in baking the perfect apple pie for your family. Or in coming up with a creative way to teach fractions to your 3rd grader. Or in picking out the perfect colors to paint your home. Or in making a flower arrangement for your spouse. Or in photographing a cousin's wedding. Or even writing a blog post.

Nobody needs to text in their vote for you or hand you a gold statue in order for you to create beauty that enhances those around you. You were designed for this. You are an artist.

So break out the refrigerator magnets.