I love it when people put their creative juices to work. I witnessed this in full bloom last month. My family was with me when I spoke for a week at Summit View Community Church just across the Columbia River from Portland, OR. One afternoon we all headed into Portland and found a fountain for the kids (and yes, their parents) to play in.
Pretty soon, I saw three guys (Ryan, Danny, and Brian) walk up with a camera and a cooler filled with water balloons. As a former youth pastor, I can sense the presence of water balloons. Combine water balloons with a camera and I’m all in.
These guys were trying to capture the moment of water explosion – most of the times as it was hitting one of them in the face! Again…I’m all in. So much so that before long I couldn’t help but join in the fun. They asked me to try my hand at throwing the water balloon directly into Ryan’s face. Seriously?!? Without having him punch me or throw one back? I jumped at the chance. In fact, in the picture below you can see my hands.
I asked his permission to share these pictures and he (Ryan) kindly agreed. They went on to take a ton of pictures of not only water balloons, but also themselves – jumping in the air, kicking, or just being silly. These guys were having a blast.
I walked away with a couple thoughts:
Thought 1: Most of us could use a lot more silliness. I think this world would be a lot better off if we saw silliness, fun, and laughter as necessities, instead of kids’ stuff.
Thought 2: Creativity is a beautiful thing. Several times since that day, I have thought back to how much fun these guys were having. Then it hit me…of course they were having fun! They were exploring the creative ability that was woven into them by the truly Creative One.
A friend of mine named C. McNair Wilson spent 10 years as a Disney Imagineer and teaches creativity workshops to corporations worldwide. He put it this way:
“To say you are ‘not creative’ is a lie. Everyone is creative. It just depends on whether – at any given moment – you are actively creative or inactively creative.”
Ryan, Danny, and Brian – Kudos for reminding me of the beauty of active creativity. And thanks for sharing your pics! (see more here)
How have you seen creativity bloom – in you and others?
