Our amazing creativity

MUSIC hath charm, they say. And its charm is so indescribable it defies reason and rhyme. It can mesmerize us and can bring us to places, moments and conditions that are way beyond what our imagination can provide. It can take us into flights to fantasy land or to heaven itself. And to think that it is at bottom composed only of a few basic musical notes!

It’s truly amazing that with just a few notes, we can create a practically infinite number of beautiful songs and music, bringing us to a borderless range of feelings and all kinds of considerations! The possible combinations of those notes to produce music are simply numberless.

In the same way, it’s indeed also amazing that with only 26 letters in our alphabet we can produce all kinds of words and ideas that can bring us to all kinds of situations, and even to the very doorstep of eternity itself!

Of course, we know that due to the fact that we are not by nature simply material and biological but also and more importantly, spiritual, we have the power to transcend the limitations of the material things we use. We have the capacity for creativity, productivity and fruitfulness. We can bring these material things to another dimension.

It’s good that we give due attention to this fact of life and be left deeply grateful for this reality. Let us be thankful to God, since it is actually he who shares his creativity with us, since we are his image and likeness. Let us be aware of the many possibilities that it provides and that we can take advantage of. In fact, we are supposed to be responsible of taking advantage of these possibilities.

And let’s be reminded also that given the way we are, or given the way God has made us, we are empowered to actually make use of small things to accomplish great things, even things that are actually beyond our human capacity to attain. Together with God’s grace, even the small things we do, give or contribute in any endeavor can acquire an eternal and supernatural value.

Remember those gospel episodes of the miraculous catch of fish (cfr. Lk 5,1-11) and the multiplication of the loaves. (cfr. Jn 6,1-14) The common lesson that we can learn from there is that as long as we do or give the little that we can at the instance of God’s will, great things can happen and what we gain is a lot more than what we give and what we can imagine.

Our creativity, productivity and fruitfulness are truly a participation in the creative power of God. This is a truth of faith that we should not forget. In fact, we should remember it because it can greatly motivate us to be as generous as we can be, even if we can only do, give or contribute a little.

Christ has assured us that we can accomplish many big things in spite of the meager ‘investment’ we put into following God’s will. “Well done, good servant, since you have been faithful in very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities,” he once said. (Lk 19,17)

In another occasion, he told his disciples, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these…You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (Jn 14,12-14)

Let’s take comfort from these very reassuring words of Christ. Let’s not be bothered by our limitations and by the little things that we can only manage to do and to give. As long as everything is done to give glory to God, it will always be creative, productive and fruitful, even if in human standards it may appear to have little or no effect at all.