I was viewing an interesting video over the weekend made by a pastor who owns a brewery. The brewery is called 2 Beers. He said after 2 beers the walls come down and people are a little more open and honest about life. Here's the link On Human Being, Doing, and Brewing. Anyway, this guy talked about how being made in God's image, in part, means we are able to 'create'. Which reminded me of a very good article from the Art of Manliness (see link under my blog list on right) called Modern Maturity - Create More, Consume Less. The thrust of that article is that men create, boys consume.
So, my question today is: Are you a creator?
In my own life, I enjoy playing music. I sometimes think up (or do I hear?) musical passages. I have recorded some of them in the past and it's fun to go through this process. I could say I'm creating anytime I write anything of substance, like these blogs, to anybody. And I enjoy that too. I sometimes have serious talks with my kids and I think I am helping create their perception of reality. My wife likes to make cards (extensive amount of tools/supplies for this), decorate and cook new things.
What do you create?
Or are you more consumer-minded?
I think that "create" is even a little bit narrow in it's scope. I do like the comparison between how boys consume, and men create, but I think it's larger than that.
ReplyDeleteBoys consume, they take, they want to be served.
I would argue that the opposite of this is not ONLY creating, but other concepts as well, such as giving, providing, serving, encouraging, etc.
In other words, is the world better today because you were in it? Because of contributions that you made today? Even if only just a little bit better?
Maybe you created a work of art. Maybe you made a nice tune that someone else can enjoy. Maybe you wrote a blog article that made someone think. All of those would be creative endeavors indeed.
However, what if you helped an overworked colleague with some of his workload? What if you mowed your grandpa's lawn? What if you said something nice to someone and it made them feel better? What if you helped clean your church?
None of those are particularly creative things, but they are all contributions to the world. They all make the world just a little bit better.
I do think that this concept is a key difference between a real man, and a boy. Hopefully I will be able to pass this principle down to my sons, so that they might continually evaluate their own level of contribution to the world we live in.