Seeing and Hearing God as Poet…

Your breath escapes…
        Warm wind fills my mind,
             Heart, and body-sails.
      Insider language moves,
             Dance-creating.   
Moses prayed beauty –
        “Establish the work of our hands.”
    Permanent Voice,
             Sing into being my doing.

Creative children love working alongside a parent. Have you ever noticed experiencing this with God? Have you crafted with Him and felt His DNA moving your own hands or thoughts or song? Have you sensed His intimate Being breathing through your labors? Tangible, but otherworldly. As real as earth existence, yet as if functioning in timeless space where your childness in relation to His Fatherness practically smells of open air and causes you to dance and play-create.

The more I learn of and about God, the more I see that He is the Original of all the many variations of personalities, realms of thought, and occupations. He is:

        Engineer Extraordinaire,
                Paradoxical Mystic,
                        Sensitive Designer,
                                Hunter Woodsman,
                                        Sober Judge,
                                                 …even Daddy-clown.

He speaks every language known to man and can swing with every cultural oddity there is. He can camp out in the library at Oxford and hang with a dusty third-world child. He can wear a full suit and tie in a formal church and go evangelizing in a swimsuit to surfers. He can party with charismatics and sit in quiet meditation with a monk.

And then He also has the MASSIVE job of translation! For instance, giving insight to the staunch Republican that the nextdoor Democrat is actually just as saved. I imagine He’s super busy when those two talk.

But I’m supposed to be talking about seeing and hearing as a poet. I figured I’d better start with saying that if you aren’t a poet, you are still you’re own version of a creative. You and God have unique together-expressions of whatever insider language you speak. Your “art” may be math or asphalt or people skills or…

For the poets, for the artists – I feel for you and with you. Endless parables. All those creative thoughts and possibilities floating around inside and outside of your head. All the joy you get out of expression – even without understanding. The incredible journey of learning as you go and not always taking a map. You listen… and create. You pause and wait… until inspiration whisks you further.

That’s your language! That’s the little slice of Poet-God He crafted in you! He’s whispering and blowing and singing. And whether you hear it or not, that Voice is making you who you are and filling your work with life. You are the functioning child of the Master Artist!

Recently I have been working in a law office. Yes. If you’re an artist, please feel free to groan long and audibly with me. I’m thankful for the work. But the creative inside me can feel like it’s getting put in time-out. Why? Because documents aren’t my natural form of creativity, though I’m finding grace.  Whatever creative part of us that is naturally strong is part of our God-given child identity. It’s a language He uses to speak to us, and we long to experience Him inside that design. We have special communion in our sweet spots. As Eric Liddell said, “When I run, I feel His pleasure.” When I am creative, I feel His smile.

I love the zone of crafting chiseled word-marble, free-form idea-clay, wandering melodies. It’s like you’re suspended, catching thought-planets and phrase-stars as they swirl around and past you. It’s the combination of precise destination and absolute spontaneity. Painting, cooking, even doing dishes turns into art for me. All of it an expression of Divine poetry. I am His poem-in-the-writing, making poetry as I go.  

So, dance. If you are poetic, let God twirl you a bit. If you’re something else, listen for Him speaking your language so you can be inside the togetherness of blessed childness.