Creative spark

The same young couple generally sits next to me in church on Sunday morning. She is a nursing student who usually works every other weekend, but her husband attends even the weeks she cannot (believe me, that is worth noting - a lot of men wouldn't).

As these things go, he and I have had a few conversations, but this was the first time I thought to ask him what he does for a living. He laughed and said he does a variety of things - working in heating and cooling pays most of the bills, but he is also a part time assistant baseball coach at my university's cross-town rival.

He played baseball for the team when he was an undergrad, so when the opportunity came up to coach, he took it as a way to give back to the program he loved. You would think that for an ex-jock, that type of job would be absolute heaven.

But it wasn't until he mentioned his third job that his face really lit up - he works a bit as a carpenter. Nothing gives him as much joy as being able to work in wood, cutting, sanding, creating something out of what to most people is just potential firewood.

We talked for a bit about that - the drive people have to create. It doesn't matter whether it is cabinets or quilts, businesses or bagels, we all seem to have an urge to create something. It's not always a product either; working to instill values in your children is just as much an act of creativity as painting their portraits.

That bit of creative spark is a bit of the divine in us. How are you fanning that spark?