“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him . . .”          Genesis 1:27 

According to Julia Cameron in her classic book The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Guide to Higher Creativity, if we (mankind) are in fact created in the image of the Creator, then it stands to reason that we too are creators.  Having always assumed that certain people possess a natural gift of creativity while others don’t, myself included, that concept had never occurred to me.  A great example is my Dad who was exceptionally artistic, a talent none of which I inherited.  As proof, the walls in our home are filled with many of his beautiful paintings.  I, on the other hand, can’t even draw good stick people, only to reinforce my long-standing belief that some people are creative while others are not.

I had held on to that belief for most of my life, that is until about fifteen years ago when I left the corporate world in search of a new career path.  That’s when I hired Lori, an executive coach, to help with my transition.  One day she said to me, “Dan, you are a very creative person.  But, because of the work you’ve been engaged in your creativity has become suppressed, and I’m trying to reawaken that in you.”  I was shocked!  The idea of my being creative had never occurred to me.  That revelation eventually led me to Julia Cameron’s book and the profound realization that I am created in the image of the Creator, which means I too am a creator.  It was a life-changing experience.

This is not only my story, though, it’s yours as well.  In fact, it is everyone’s story; for if I am created in the image God, then so are you, and so is every other human on earth.  Some, however, like me need to be reminded or made aware that we are all created in the image of the Creator, therefore empowered with an ability to create.  How we create may vary – my Dad could paint while I cannot – but we are nonetheless each uniquely creative.  What matters is that we use it, use it well, and most importantly that we use it generously for the well-being of others and the purposes for which the Creator intended.

When I find myself discouraged about the mess the world is in – and the world is never not in a mess! – this is what gives me hope, that “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him”, and those who use their creativity for the purposes the Creator intended will eventually come to the fore.  Sooner or later they always do.

“A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.”          –  Proverbs 11:17

Ted was a checker at large supermarket located in our former neighborhood.  He had been there a long time and almost all the regular shoppers knew him.  Ted had this slow steady rhythm about him when he checked people out, not nearly as fast as some of the younger checkout clerks.  Yet amazingly, customers would go out of their way to be in his lane rather than the shorter, faster ones – simply because they wanted to be checked out by Ted.  The reason was simple.  Ted always had a friendly smile, a story to tell, a conversation to carry on, and he new all the regular customers by name.  But mostly it was because he was a genuinely kind and gentle man.

The teenage son of one of our close friends entered the store one day in need of some emergency cash and had not been able to get in touch with his parents.  Without batting an eye, Ted pulled out his wallet and handed the young man a hundred-dollar bill, the only stipulation being to pay it back whenever he could.  The boy’s parents, of course, saw to it that he was promptly repaid.  But that’s the kind of person Ted was.

Then one day we learned that Ted’s beloved wife had passed away after a lengthy illness.  And not too long afterwards Ted was forced to retire due to health issues of his own.  Sometime later I ran into him in a Home Depot store, the first time I had seen him since his retirement.  I expressed to him my condolences over the loss of his wife, that he had been in my thoughts and prayers, and how much we all missed him in the supermarket.  In his usual kind, cheerful manner he responded that he missed seeing us too.  Then he said this, “So many people like you have been so kind.  I think I must be the most prayed over and loved man on the face of the earth.” 

And no wonder; for “A kind man benefits himself” (in contrast to “a cruel man brings trouble on himself”), and Ted was a living example of that.  Why else would customers go out or their way to be in his checkout lane at the grocery store?  Or why did so many grieve with him in his loss, pray for him in his time of need, and miss him when he was no longer around?  Why else did he feel he was the most loved man on the face of the earth?  It had to do with Ted being a kind man, and kindness begets kindness, does it not?

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.”  – Psalm 107:1 

It was the fall of 1970.  I was stationed at Fort Eustis, Virginia for military training.  When Thanksgiving Day rolled around, being too far from home to be with our families on such a brief holiday weekend, several of us made reservations at a quaint restaurant in nearby Williamsburg.  It was a lovely place with white tablecloths, traditional Thanksgiving fare, and a quiet, friendly atmosphere.  Understandably we were a bit homesick, but instead of making the best of it, cheering each other up and enjoying a nice meal together we began to complain about our predicament of being in the army and away from our families.  Soon our dinner party digressed into a pity party.

Strange, isn’t it, how a group of privileged college educated young men with great futures sitting in a lovely restaurant on a beautiful autumn day in one of our nation’s great historic cities would have anything to complain about?  Even worse, we were all Reservists whose full time military service would soon be over, after which we would be returning to our homes for good, while many of our army colleagues were going to be assigned to combat zones in Vietnam.  Why then were we so ungrateful, indeed resentful, about our circumstance?  And of all times, Thanksgiving!

As you can tell, this is not one of my proudest memories, yet one I have played over in my mind a thousand times, wishing I could do it over.  If only we had paused long enough to be thankful for the delicious meal, the warm surroundings, the beautiful setting, the friendships we had formed with each other, and our families back home.  If only I had had the courage to redirect the attitude around the table to gratitude.  If only!

I share this memory not out of shame or regret, however, but out of gratitude.  For, as mistakes and failures are often our best teachers, so was this incident for me.  Not a Thanksgiving goes by that I don’t think about it, reminding me of the many things I have to be thankful for – my beautiful family, nice home, host of friends, good health, even those old army pals, most of whom I’ve lost touch with.  I will be ever grateful for that Thanksgiving back in 1970 for reminding me of all my many blessings.  And I “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.”

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  – Matthew 7:3 

Fiorello LaGuardia, the colorful Depression era mayor of New York City, once walked into a night court in one of the city’s poorest wards, dismissed the judge for the evening, and took over the bench himself.  A tattered old woman was brought before him charged with stealing a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren.  After hearing the evidence from both sides, LaGuardia upheld the law by punishing the old woman with a ten-dollar fine or ten days in jail.  But even as he was pronouncing the sentence he reached into his own pocket and produced a ten-dollar bill, exclaiming these words to all present in the courtroom: “Here is the ten-dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore, I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat.  Mr. Bailiff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant.”

Now, being the good citizen that I am, I have always dutifully shown up in court whenever I’ve receive a jury summons.  And there’s one thing that is always predictable.  At some point during the voir dire process the attorneys, as well as the judge, will instruct the jury panel on the importance of weighing all the evidence before passing judgment.

Every time I hear that little admonition I am forced to take pause.  While I’m great at passing judgment on others, something I do frequently, I’m not quite so adept at weighing the evidence.  And there’s good reason for that; for digging deeper into the evidence against someone else has this strange effect of revealing my own guilt.

Mayor LaGuardia must surely have had the same experience in that night court back in January of 1935.  The evidence clearly revealed the woman’s guilt as undeniable.  Yet, in digging deeper, neither was the Mayor able to deny his own, and why he assessed the biggest fine against himself.  After all, he was the mayor of a town where a person had to steal bread so that her grandchildren could eat, which must have caused him to ask himself, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

“A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly.”          Proverbs 14:29 

My whole morning routine got totally derailed this past week.  First, our newspapers started arriving late, sometimes up to two hours later than normal (yes, I’m one of those late adopters who refuses to give up reading the papers the old-fashioned way).  Then, to make matters worse, the coffeemaker went on the fritz.  So, for a very early riser like me, waking up to no paper and no coffee completely disrupted my life, which as my wife can attest, changed my usual chipper nature to that of a quick-tempered, cantankerous grump.

The whole episode had me messed up, and out of sorts.  It made me want to write nasty letters to the newspaper, scream at the poor delivery guy if I could ever find him, throw the coffeemaker across the kitchen, kick the dog, yell at my wife, or blame anyone else who got in the way.  I was a poster-child for how “a quick-tempered man displays folly.”

Then I remembered this little quote, a clever word play on Jesus’ Beatitudes.  “Blessed are the flexible,” it says, “for they shall not get bent out of shape.”  And that’s when I realized how I was being totally inflexible, and therefore completely bent out of shape.  As it turns out we have alternative ways to brew a cup of coffee available in our kitchen, and there are stacks of good books, devotional pamphlets, and even a Bible right next to my reading chair, much more stimulating and uplifting than the daily newspaper.

Fortunately, I did restrain myself from acting out on my emotions.  That is to say, I did not yell at my wife, kick the dog, throw the coffeepot across the kitchen, scream at the delivery person or write any nasty letters to the newspaper.  How foolish would that have been!  More importantly, I was able to experience the rewards from being patient and flexible.

By week’s end, our newspapers were once again arriving at their usual time, a brand-new coffeemaker now sits on our kitchen counter, and all is right with the world.  And a lesson learned: “A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly.”