Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. Genesis 2:19
When do your best creative ideas come? What do you do with them? Since we are all created in the image of God, the great Creator of the heavens and the earth, we are all endued with unimaginable creativity. Just as God delighted to give Adam the creative assignment to name the animals in the same way He still gives each of us opportunities to create. And He takes joy in seeing what kind of imaginative things we come up with.
What must that have been like for Adam? Do you think spinning off thousands of names came easy for him? Or do you think he found himself drifting into one of those creative malaise’s, where nothing comes to mind?
My take on it is that he got into a zone of imagination and his creative energies gained momentum as he went along? Why? – Because he was in an environment literally oozing with creative inspiration. He was in God’s presence – relaxing in an atmosphere free from distraction and critical judgment. He was just sitting there and God was doing all the work in bringing the animals to him. And wonder of wonders, whatever Adam chose to call them, God celebrated.
I believe that is how our truly inspirational moments typically work. Things just come to us without any effort when we find ourselves in that kind of creative environment. Like Adam, I am most creative when I am relaxed. Being relaxed for me has more to do with being relaxed in my mind than my body. I have found when I am doing something like jogging or driving alone in the car and my mind is free from the pressures of life, creative thoughts just come to me.
Creative moments like that are gifts from God. I am convinced that it is important to revel in them and make the most of them. One thing I have been doing lately is carrying a small digital voice recorder when I am running or driving in the car. Since those are creative times for me I have been using the voice recorder to capture my thoughts. I have been amazed what a handy tool it has been for thinking through things, and as a consequence it has greatly helped me in my writing and speaking. Now I carry my Olympus VN-6200PC with me all the time.
I would be interested to know when your best ideas come. Please share what atmosphere or conditions are most conducive for you to be creative.