I unknowingly started writing this message more than 17 years ago when I took a break from posting tutorials about refinishing furniture and budget-friendly decorating on my blog, Miss Mustard Seed, to encourage readers to pursue whatever creative work was calling them.
Even then, I wanted to invite them to choose their natural pace over hustle culture and creation over consumerism. Those blog posts received some of the most heartfelt replies, showing me my readers wanted more than decorating tutorials.
They wanted—or maybe needed—to hear that their creativity mattered. They wanted to know it wasn’t selfish to make time to make things, that time spent on artistic endeavors was soul care. If they didn’t believe their creativity was important—or that they were creative at all—I wanted to tell them they were.
These convictions have shaped my own creative life, and they can transform yours too.
1. I believe everyone is creative. Everyone.
Whatever you think about yourself, your gifts, abilities, or creative inclinations (or lack thereof), I believe with everything in me that you are creative.
You might not be a painter, writer, musician, photographer, designer, or dancer, but you are creative. Those are creative pursuits someone does, not who they are.
If you don’t engage in those artistic activities—or you’re not good at them—it doesn’t mean you’re not creative. Being creative is not just something you do. It’s something you are.
Creativity isn’t limited to studios, concert halls, or galleries. As beings created by the Creator in His image, we are creative. Full stop.
2. I believe art, in the broadest sense of the word, is learned, not bestowed.
There are good reasons why music lessons, art classes, painting workshops, cooking schools, and writing conferences exist. Creative skills can be learned.
While some people are born with natural abilities, we are all capable of pursuing creative work and growing our skills.
In other words, anyone can make art—whatever their art may be.
The creatives we admire simply didn’t stop at their beginner piano book or second-grade art class. They studied, practiced, learned from others, read, grew, and nurtured their art.
3. I believe we were created to use our creative gifts.
As children, we’re encouraged—even required—to exercise our creativity. We’re given crayons, Play-Doh, blocks, and dedicated time to craft and make things because creativity is recognized as a vital part of learning.
As we grow older, though, creativity often becomes something we leave behind unless we’re intentional about practicing it.
But the world needs us to be creative.
We were created to create.
We need to solve problems, invent, innovate, paint, draw, write, and design—not only for the good of our own hearts, hands, minds, and souls but also for the good of the world.
4. I believe we are fulfilled when we create.
When I watch one of my cats batting at a ball of yarn I’m using to knit a pair of mittens, my frustration is always eclipsed by the joy of watching a cat do what a cat was made to do.
The desire to create was knitted into what makes us human, and we find fulfillment when we practice creativity. If you don’t find joy in creating, either you haven’t found your art, you don’t recognize it as art, or you’ve been discouraged from pursuing it.
5. I believe creativity is a worthwhile lifelong pursuit.
Pursuing a creative life isn’t like running a marathon. It’s more like tending a garden.
There are seasons. There is growth. There is learning, tending, and problem-solving to be done. This journey requires time and attention over decades, and gardens don’t have winners, losers, or finish lines.
Alfred Austin wrote in The Garden That I Love, “There is no gardening without humility… Nature is constantly sending even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder.”
The same is true of creative work. There may be milestones along the way, but there is no creativity finish line.
So I encourage you to claim these five beliefs as truths about creativity—your creativity.
I am creative.
I can learn art.
I was created to create.
I am fulfilled when I create.
Creativity is a worthwhile lifelong pursuit.
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Move Slow and Make Things, by Marian Parsons, offers thoughtful guidance, hands-on exercises, and real-life examples to equip you in your pursuit of meaning and contentment. As you begin to see the world through the eyes of a maker, you’ll find beauty everywhere and rediscover your God-given potential to create wonderful things.
You were made to create—at your own pace. Let Marian show you how. Learn more about the book and how to purchase here.
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