It Starts with a Question

The plainly dressed woman was weary of the day-to-day grind of cook, serve, clean; cook serve, clean.  Over in the corner of her one-room cottage, the iron pot bubbling over a wood fire needed constant attention.  Inside the pot was the household’s plain, daily fare: porridge. What would happen, she wondered, if things were different? What if that pot of porridge were never empty again?   Her wondering became a wish, and the wish became reality.  Suddenly the pot began to boil vigorously.  The few servings of porridge miraculously multiplied and the thick porridge ran down the sides of the vessel, onto the floor, out the door.  Soon the village street was a river of porridge.  Neighbors ran to get their spoons and partake of the bounty.  Inside the cottage, the pot kept on boiling and the porridge kept on flowing.

You may recognize this simple folk tale of a farmwife who asks a question and makes a wish.   What once required hard work now flowed effortlessly. What was once sparse was suddenly bounteous.  This old story, The Pot That Would Not Stop Boiling, doesn’t end well (Porridge overruns home, village, animals, people), but it includes two things that signify Divine creativity to me: a curiosity-sparked question and the image of abundance in the guise of an overflowing iron kettle.  How could a story of unexpected provision connect with Creativity or  with the Season of Lent, a traditional time of fasting and sacrifice? Lent is not just a time for remembrance and ritual.  Lent is a time for asking questions and for paying attention in Holy expectation. During Lent, we intentionally make space for the Holy, and when we encounter God’s creative presence, it is not as a stingy trickle, but as an overflowing stream. Our essence, our very countenance reflects our Creator God. Creativity is not a special talent reserved for only the few. If we are alive, creativity is alive within us.   When we experience God, we experience Creativity, and vice-versa.  My restless spirit’s job is to be curious, to wonder in Holy expectation.  In my experience, God’s urgings often start, not with a command or a demand, but with a question, an invitation.  When that happens,

What would happen if I said Yes? ¹

Can a moment of wonder lead to something amazing? Can creativity be released by a simple question?  What would happen if I said Yes to the Spirit who nudges me to do more?  When an idea I might dismiss as impossible returns again and again to my mind, what would happen if I said Yes?  Yes to a Lenten Art Calendar and the risks, rewards, fears that accompany it.  Yes to breaking an old mindset.  Yes to the still small voice that niggles at my conscience. Yes to seeing Lent as a time of bounty instead of scarcity. 

Once a long time ago, this legend goes, a woman asked a simple question and something incredible happened. We share the legacy of curiosity and daring with her and all of human kind.  Our own story, however, is not close to ending; there can never be too much of God’s bounty. The God who is Love invites and beckons.   When we say Yes to God, no matter the Season, a space opens up and fills with an amazing sense of God’s Presence.  Our Creative God can only be contained or restrained if we dare not ask ourselves the question that indicates a willing heart. I’m not sure what your invitations and your wonderings might be, but I am sure they are there, bubbling away, ready for you. Whatever the time of year, it is always the season for a serving of God’s abundant, creative spirit.  

What would happen if you said Yes?

It starts with a question.  What comes next… only you can answer.

Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—

How Good God is!  Psalm 34:8  The Message.

Today’s tile is a collage that depicts pearly, golden bubbles emerging from a creative sea.  These bubbles represent the effervescent, unpredictable nature of creativity.  Around the bubbles are some questions that often guide me as I’m starting a project, or wondering whether to commit myself to a new responsibility.  This tile reminds me that creative opportunities emerge at a moment’s notice.  If we hesitate in a fog of self-doubt, the moment may disappear like bubbles that pop or float away.

The questions may be hard to read in the photograph. Here they are:

What nurtures and gives life?

What feeds the soul?

Who to keep near?

What keeps ideas bubbling?

Where (does creativity) reside in your soul?

What questions are bubbling in your Spirit today? In what way might you say Yes to God’s abundant, creative urging?

Special Note to my Readers: Since I began preparing and launching this Lenten study, our world is now threatened by violence and aggression.  I join with all who are in daily peril and offer my prayers for courage and strength.  During this time, opportunities to minister to all those touched by this war will emerge.  I pray that when that message, that opportunity arises, we will ask ourselves, What would happen if I said Yes?  In our Yesses will lie the pathway to hope and to peace.

¹ What Would Happen If I said Yes, by S. Cline. (1989) DOK publishers