The Act of Creation and Turning Water into Wine
One of the subjects that I have felt pressed, more than ever, to explore and consider for myself this year has been that of creativity. For anyone following along, this should come as no surprise at all.
What has delighted me, though, is finding inspiration to create in places I had not expected, and that happened at my weekly bible study this Sunday evening. This time is one of my favorite bits of the week, and most recently my friends and I began a new study exploring the seven miracles which appear in the Gospel of John.
We began with the story of Jesus turning water into wine, and as I read it I began to consider what the story had to say about the act of creation itself. That rung a bell in my mind somewhere, and I began to flip back through the books I’ve read this year, landing on Erwin McManus’ ‘The Artisan Soul’.
In the book, the author delved into this miraculous act, and wondered what it might say about both the creative spirit inside of Jesus, and the same creative spark inside of us. As he says, “A person’s work product reflects his or her essence. What kind of wine would the Creator of the universe make after all? Can you imagine in any universe that the Creator of the entire cosmos would put his signature on anything less than the most extraordinary expression of his work?”
Considering those words, I began to wonder what that means for my own creativity, and that which I feel compelled and called to embrace. This is what McManus says about his own pull towards the act of creation:
It wasn’t simply that Jesus turned water into wine that revealed his glory; it was that Jesus took ordinary water and turned it into exquisite wine that revealed who he really was.
Remember, art is an extension of self. Everything we create reveals who we are. The material that forms our souls is the only material we have available to us when we create. If the artisan paints with the soul, what are the colors available to us? Beavers create dams; bees create hives; ants create colonies; but humans create futures. The unique distinction of being created in the image of God is that what we create is informed by the invisible at the same time as it materializes the invisible.
When our souls are informed by human emotions that reflect the worst in us, we find ourselves creating a world that not even we ourselves would ever want to live in. When our inner world is filled with bitterness, unforgivingness, jealousy, envy, greed, and lust, then the darkness inside creates a dark world around us. But when the human spirit is shaped by the highest human virtues, such as love, kindness, goodness, joy, and gentleness, we create a beautiful world.
The greatest art is an intersection of contrasts. There is hope in the midst of pain, love in the midst of betrayal, courage in the midst of mystery. To turn our lives into masterpieces is to know both pain and healing, despair and hope, darkness and light. Our most powerful work comes when we reveal beauty in the midst of tragedy.
For all of us, part of this journey is learning how to turn the water into wine. What I love most about this particular miracle is that Jesus never had to tell them that a miracle had happened. It wasn’t the spectacular nature of the transaction that indicated the divine intervention; it was the quality of the product.
This I have found to be the best metaphor for my own journey. The best description of my life is watching God time and time again turn water into wine.
I want to begin truly considering how my work reflects my character, and my nature—and considering the act of water to wine helps me do just that.
If these concepts were interesting to you, read my notes on ‘The Artisan Soul’ over at my books project. McManus musings on the fact that we are all called to create was exactly what I needed to hear when I read it, and the same might be true for you.
