My husband recently went out of town on a “work” trip to Disneyland, and I was left with four crazy animal boys who wished they were with their dad. I tried to plan some fun things while he was away, including a family home evening based around making choices. I got some yummy treats and set up a video clip to watch of the brother of Jared asking Jesus Christ what they should do for light in their barges (basically ancient submarines) he had built to sail across the sea.
“Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness?”
“And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?” (Book of Mormon,Ether 2:22-23).
I pushed play on the Living Scriptures clip and we watched as the brother of Jared collected stones and brought them up into a high mountain. He then humbly asked the Lord to touch the stones with his finger that they might have light. Because of his exceeding faith, the Lord did as he requested.
I love this scripture story, and I asked the boys if they thought Jesus would have only made stones shine. What if the brother of Jared brought him an empty cup, or perhaps an article of clothing? Could he have made those shine, too? I said I thought the Lord wanted the brother of Jared to use his own imagination and come up with something he thought was best. I then asked my boys what they would have asked Jesus to touch to make light.
My 3-year-old, Benson, said, “I would have gotten a stick and put a piece of paper on it and then got a string to make it into a zip-line and had Jesus touch the stick and then it would shoot down the zip-line.” I laughed and said that was a very creative answer, the light-up stick on a zip-line, shooting across the barge.
The next day, I was watching a TED Talk where Sir Ken Robinson asked the question, “Do schools kill creativity?” In his talk, he gives an example of a little girl drawing a picture in school. Her teacher came up to her and asked what it was.
“I’m drawing a picture of God,” she said.
“But nobody knows what God looks like,” the teacher responded.
And then the girl said, “They will in a minute!”
Robinson explained that children are much more likely to “have a go” at things, to take a chance, even if they don’t know exactly what they’re doing. They’ll try it. They aren’t afraid of being wrong.
“If you’re not prepared to be wrong,” he said, “you’ll never come up with anything original.”
Robinson went on to quote Picasso: “All children are born artists. The challenge is to remain artists as we grow up.”
“I believe this passionately,” Robinson said, “that we don’t grow into creativity — we grow out of it.”
This hit me like a ton of bricks. Not only do I feel that I have lost my courage to be “wrong” in creating, but that I have not let my children hold on to their innate creativity.
For example, my boys have only just started to pick out their own outfits on a daily basis. Please don’t gag. Listen, I know they are capable. They choose where to sit at lunch, who to play with at recess, what game to play during quiet time. They pick shows to watch and create amazing Lego towers and select their favorite books to read and snacks to eat. I have told myself it’s just “easier” to throw four outfits down all at once — and it is — but if I’m being totally honest, it’s also partly because I want them to look a certain way. It makes me feel like I’m being a “good” mom if they look nice and presentable. Maybe I hope if I dress them like little J. Crew models that will somehow overshadow them behaving like Animal from "The Muppets."
Regardless of intention, I have found the more I let them use their imagination — however wacky or wild it may seem to me — the happier and more confident they are, even when it comes to something as simple as wearing a Halloween costume to the grocery store in August.
I am sure many moms out there have figured this out faster than me. But this year I am trying to let go a little more, allowing my boys to trust themselves, so they can let their inner vessels shine with their own unique light. Because I firmly believe God has touched each one of us with his hand, and because of this, our creative powers are unlimited. What will you do with yours?