Day 3 of Embracing Your Creative Gifts: Why We Were Created

 

Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory, and honour, and power: because thou hast created all things; and for thy will they were, and have been created. – Rev 4:11

Why were we created? According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “of all visible creatures only man is ‘able to know and love his creator.’ He is ‘the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake,’ and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God’s own life. . . God created everything for man, but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him” (356, 358).

We have a mission to know, love, and serve God. We come to know and love God through prayer, worship, and love of neighbor. We serve God by following the commandments and listening to the quiet voice within us that tells us what we should be doing. God willed us into being, not only humanity in general, but each one of us. We were created for a particular purpose, to bring something to the world that no one else can.

There are over seven billion people in this world. It is easy to feel insignificant in the face of that knowledge. Yet, each one of us has a part to play in God’s magnificent symphony of life. We each have a note that only we can hit. Our creativity and contribution is needed to make the world complete. The right use of our creativity is one of our gifts back to God.

Prayer

Heavenly Creator, in the midst of the daily grind, I often forget the wonder of life. I forget that each person I meet was made in your image. I forget that I was made to know, love, and serve you. Please help me to remember that each person I meet is a gift.

Action  

Is there a difficult person in your life? Sometimes (often) it is easier to remember that the unknown person on the other side of the world is made in the image of God than it is to think the same about a co-worker or family member. Give God a prayer of thanks for that person today and try to think of at least one way that individual makes the world a better place. 

This is an excerpt from The Work of Our Hands. (Amazon affiliate link)