Talent! Who me?

 

"Ya either got it, or ya ain't"

The other day an artist friend held a gallery opening of their work. As I was gazing at the amazing work, I bemoaned a little and said to my friend, “I wish I could paint but I just don’t have any talent.” My friend lovingly chastised me and said, “you’ve got lots of talent!” I replied, “I know I have talent in some areas, just not in the visual arts.” We then went on to have a brief discussion on what it means to have talent.

I came to realize that part of our disconnect was the use of the word talent. When most people think of talent, they think it’s something special that only a few people are born with. In fact, the Cambridge Dictionary defines talent as, “a natural skill or ability to be good at something, especially without being taught.” As Mama Rose sings in Gypsy, “Ya either got it, or ya ain't. And, boys, I got it!”

It’s no wonder most people don’t think they have any talent. Talent implies something special that comes naturally and one doesn’t have to work at it. Rather than talented, I much prefer to use the word “Creative.” I believe all people are born to be creative. It’s how God made us. Scripture says we are made in the image of God. We tend to invert that saying and assume it means God looks like us. We imagine God in human form, and since we call God Father, we picture God as an old wise man with a beard sitting on a throne.

It is clear in Scripture that God is the God of creation. Not just because he created the earth and all that is on it, but because it is God’s very nature to create. God could not help but create. If God is all sufficient then God did not create humans out of need. God didn’t need us, God wanted us. God wanted to bring forth beauty and nature and yes, even humankind. So, when God said, “let us create man in our image, according to our likeness” God was talking about essence and not physicality. In some translations it says, “Now we will make humans, and they will be like us.” To be created in the image of God means we were designed to be creative beings. Like God, we can’t help but create.

Sadly, however, when I speak to people, whether it be in the church or the theater, or just in daily life, most people don’t think of themselves as creative. We become self-deprecating. “Oh, I couldn’t do that! I don’t have a creative bone in my body.” But creativity is not limited to the arts. You don’t have to be a painter like Monet or a sculpture like Michelangelo, or a prolific songwriter like Burt Bacharach to be creative. Creativity is the act of bringing something into existence that wasn’t there before. It doesn’t have to be art. It doesn't even have to be physical. A new thought or idea comes from our creativity. Baking a cake or cooking a meal is a form of creativity. But one may say, I didn’t create the recipe. All I did was follow directions. It doesn’t matter, the outcome was something you created from raw materials. Most creatives use ideas already in existence, they merely added their spin to it. Michelangelo may have been a great sculpture, but he didn’t’ invent sculpting. I remember asking my grandmother how she made some of my favorite recipes. “Oh, a pinch of this, a dash of that” she would reply. I’m sure when she was starting out, she either used a recipe or had her grandmother standing by to instruct her, until one day, it became her own. She didn’t invent the apple pie, but she created the best one I ever tasted.

How then, can I become more creative? I can’t, but I can become more aware. I become mindful of all the things I do and how often during the day I come up with ideas or projects that require me to bring something into existence that wasn’t there before. In addition to being mindful, we can become more attuned to our passions. What are the things we are passionate about?  What brings me joy? Often, we ignore our creative side because we think it’s not important. Oh, it’s just a hobby or something I like to do occasionally. I’m too busy with work to think about my passion. We don’t think of ourselves as being creative because we don’t feed our creativity. What you pay attention to becomes stronger. Lastly, we need to learn to stop judging ourselves. If I love to paint and painting releases my creativity, who cares if it’s award winning? Who cares if it hangs in a studio? We create for ourselves, not for others. We create because, like God in who’s image we are made, we can’t help but bring forth new things into existence.

I may not have a talent for painting, but I am a Creative. I create every day, sometimes only for myself, and sometimes to share with others. I may not be Wayne Brady, the brilliant improviser, but I love to do improv. It’s part of how I create. Find what it is you love and go for it. You are not doing it for the world, you are doing it for yourself.