Creation

I have been thinking lately about the process of creation. This was sparked by my recent clean out of a box under my desk at home. In it, I found a folder overflowing with old poetry that I had written back when I was an aspiring poet. Most of this is admittedly awful poetry. There are some that are okay and those are ones that were written and revised. The poems that eventually got published in small poetry chapbooks have underwent several sometimes extensive revisions. They took a lot of work as most things that have value do.

Great works of literature, poetry, music, and art are most times resultant of a lot of blood, sweat and tears. And I would venture to say revision and reworking. Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass underwent several revisions during Whitman’s lifetime. Much of Henri Matisse’s amazing canvases started out as simple drawings. This was true of my favorite artists from the Der Blaue Reiter movement (Blue Rider), Kandinsky, Marc and Klee. They often made rough sketches that they revised when painting. Their creations did not just happen; they took work and were the result of a process of trial and error. They evolved, were reworked, and revised.


The universe and all its wonders are God’s great creation. The Bible tells us in Genesis; “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” I believe that this act of creation was done through the process of evolution. God set that process in motion and that process constantly revising. Always striving to get it perfect.

The Bible also tells that us that man is God’s greatest creation. A creation that He made in His own image. Genesis stated that God formed man of dust or clay from the ground. I always imagine the sculptures of Rodin when I read this passage. And yet even God's greatest creation, man undergoes revision and is ever evolving.

I know that I am a work of constant revision.  I am aware of aspects of me that I know need improvement. Don’t we all. I am different than I was 20 years ago both in physical appearance and in who Robin is. Heck I am a different me today than I was yesterday.  I work on my relationship to God and my world. God works on me, gently guiding me to be more Christ-like. 

Creation is a mighty and active thing. I am sure thankful that we have a God that continues to revise and does not just shove us in a folder, in a box, under His desk.

We are all God’s poems, the cosmos His canvas, the stars His concerto.

We are all His creation!