Sanctity alone does not make a man a great painter, but when a great painter is also a saint, when he allows the Holy Spirit to supernaturalise the natural genius with which he has been blessed, then his art achieves that matchless purity. – Fr. John Saward, The Beauty of Holiness and the Holiness of Beauty
Most of us are not geniuses. That fact is what makes true genius in any area or field of study rare. But what is said of geniuses in Fr. Saward’s quote is also true of all of our creative gifts. We may have been blessed by God with a certain amount of innate talent in a given area. Some creative areas come more easily than others. Often these skills are apparent even in childhood. With time and practice, we might become quite skilled in a given area. We might be able to paint a beautiful picture, compose a masterful poem or song, or create a dinner that is both a visual and culinary delight. The desire to learn and improve and practice combined with perseverance can take us a long way.
Those efforts can be taken to a new level, however, when we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us. So many times, we rely on our own skill and effort. We become confident in our abilities, forgetting to ask the Giver of all good gifts for help in our creative tasks.
What would happen if we remembered each time we picked up the tools of our creative endeavors to ask the Holy Spirit for help and guidance? What if we surrendered our gifts to the One who gave them to us and asked the Holy Spirit to help us use our gifts in the way God wants them to be used?
It can be scary to think of surrender. We want to be in control. We want to use our gifts the way we want to use them. But if we can trust that the Holy Spirit wants us to use our gifts for good and will help us to do so, that will only elevate our efforts, and we can rest in the knowledge that what we create is what God wants it to be.
Prayer
Dear Holy Spirit, thank you for my creative gifts. I surrender them back to you, trusting that you will help me to use them the way God wants me to use them
Action
Before you begin any creative project today, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. It can be as simple as “Holy Spirit, please help me.” At the end of the day, reflect on whether it made a difference in your work in either the outcome or how you felt while doing it.
This is an excerpt from The Work of Our Hands. (Amazon affiliate link)
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