Creativity and Perfection

I love all creative things.  I love creating.

 

I have listened to a fascinating talk this evening by Julie Burstein about creativity and the tension in creativity between what we can control and what we have to let go of.

 

She describes how when we are creative, we can't control everything - we have to let go of some things.  If we have a strict idea of what we want to achieve and what we want our creativity to look like, we will restrict ourselves and our creativity.

 

Creativity and perfectionism are often enemies.

 

I remember in Art GCSE at school my Art teacher telling us how she had been at a workshop and each person had to paint something.  They were asked to pause after about 20 minutes and share with the rest of the group which part of their painting they liked the most.

 

They all proudly pointed out which bits they thought were best and explained why.

 

And then the tutor asked them to paint over those perfect parts - to wipe them away - and to continue painting.

 

You can imagine my teacher's feelings as she was asked to paint over what she perceived to be the best part of her work.

 

But she said that after wrestling with the idea, when she did finally paint over the 'perfect' bit, she was much freer in her painting.  She wasn't limited or restricted by trying to make the rest of the painting as 'perfect' as the small bit she was proud of.

 

If we hold on to the idea of doing something (anything) perfectly, it will stand in the way of real creativity.  We will tiptoe around the perfect bits, scared to disrupt or ruin them.

 

Scott Adams says,

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes."

 

Or perhaps we could say, Creativity is allowing yourself the freedom to be less than perfect.

 

As someone who has spent a long time trying (and obviously failing) to be perfect, this is so freeing.  I want to be creative, I want to be free to make mistakes.

 

Paul urged the Galatian church,

"Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand!  Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you."

 

[Galatians 5:1 MSG]

 

Even something as seemingly good as perfection can become a form of slavery.

 

Let's not let our drive for 'perfection' strip us of our God-given, messy, colouring-outside-the-lines creativity.

 

 

 

 

My Life Is A Mess

Whenever I tidy something or have a 'spring clean', everything always looks worse, much worse, when I am half-way through.  And when it looks like that - with so many piles of stuff everywhere that you wonder where it was all hiding - I always question why I started.

 

It's at times like these when I have to fight the strong temptation to just walk away.  Or to shove it all into a box or under the bed, out of sight.

 

It seems to be, as Jane Austen would say, "a truth universally acknowledged" that things have to get worse before they get better when it comes to tidying and cleaning.  I wonder if there is some sort of science behind it all?

 

And it seems that when we are sorting things out in our hearts and in our lives, things often get messy before they get better as well.  And we have to fight the same temptation to run away and to hide our issues under the bed again.

 

Sometimes in order to sort things out and to be put back together, we need to first be taken from together.  We need to be broken in order to be properly mended.  And that is messy.

 

But God is in the mess with us.  And He will help to rebuild us.

 

      "For God is out to help Zion,

      Rebuilding the wrecked towns of Judah."

 

       [Psalm 69:35 MSG]

 

       And,

 

       "You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
       rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
       You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
       restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
       make the community livable again.

 

      [Isaiah 58:12 MSG]

 

I heard this the other day,

"Have the courage to be imperfect."

I have spent most of my life chasing perfection.  The illusive idea that if I tried just a little bit harder, if I was just a little bit better, my life might be easier/better/more fulfilling.

 

I have run from imperfection and mess.  But I am beginning to realise that it is in embracing and wrestling with the mess that we find ourselves.  And in doing so, we find contentment and fulfilment.

 

We are all works in progress.  We are all half-way through the 'sorting out' process.  We are not finished products.  We are being refined and reshaped and recast day after day after day.

 

I'm not sure I have the courage to be imperfect.  But I want to try.

 

I want to be comfortable living in the mess, because that's where the life is.

 

 

 

 

Imperfectly Perfect

I recently found myself in a place which prided itself on its perfection. I was greeted promptly by a smiling and helpful receptionist; I was offered free tea or coffee in a pristine white cup from a friendly waitress whilst I reclined in a comfortable brown leather sofa.

Everything seemed perfect.

Except for me.

And I felt completely out of place. I felt as though my presence undid the work of 'perfection' that these people had strived so hard to achieve.  I felt uncomfortable and inconspicuous.  Because human perfection is always contrived and artificial.  It is a carefully crafted artefact, or a performance which we admire from a distance.  It doesn't invite us in, it distances us.  It doesn't affirm us, it criticises us.

It is something which intimidates us.

And it is something with which I have struggled for most of my life. 

I thought that I had to be perfect in order for people to like me - do the right thing, say the right thing, be the right thing.  There was no room for error.  And so I panicked when I made a mistake or 'failed'.

My least favourite Bible verse for a long time was Jesus' words to His followers -

"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

[Matthew 5:48 NIV]

I struggled enough with being perfect in human eyes, let alone in God's eyes. 

But when Jesus talks about being perfect, He doesn't mean for us to be perfect in a human way.  It doesn't mean being on your best behaviour and never putting a foot wrong.   It means to be perfected - to be made complete, with nothing lacking or missing - in the same way that God is complete.  It denotes wholeness and a sense of peace as our striving comes to an end. 

True perfection is not something that we can achieve if we just try harder;  it's not something that can be artificially manufactured; it isn't a show that we put on.  It is something that comes from within and can only be realised when we understand our identity in Christ.

God's perfection, in contrast to human perfection, is embracing, inviting, forgiving, reassuring, affirming and enabling.  It meets us and accepts us where we are; it welcomes us in.  It isn't ashamed of our imperfections, neither does it deny them.  It acknowledges our weaknesses and lovingly completes us.

"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

[Matthew 5:48 NIV]

Be perfected, made whole, complete, peaceful, assured, in the same way that your Heavenly Father is. 

I am not perfect.  But in Him I am.

Imperfectly perfect.