Creating

Here's an excerpt from an email that I sent to a friend a few days ago.

These days, I busy myself with plenty of activities. Besides work, basketball and music playing keep me entertained. I watch the Spurs, of course.. I'm always a fan, which is a great excuse to see family and friends.

The most important thing I do to stay busy is being in a band. We're just playing in my garage right now, but we're actually writing songs. It's a 3-man group that is perfect blues. I play the bass. Our guitar player, Mike, has taught me a lot about life and faith. His theory is that when God made man in His own "image," part of that image is a reflection of God's ability to create. Most people who find that something they enjoy deeply to the point of getting engrossed and fulfilled usually are engaged in the creation of something. It could be painting, cooking, writing words, writing/making music, or making jewelry. The ability to create something that is art and not purely utilitarian separates us from animals. Having
that ability makes us feel joy and fulfillment in a way that animals cannot, and those things are gifts from God.

I hate hearing married people complain now, when for no legitimate reason they start thinking divorce is an answer. It just shows a selfishness or mental/emotional sickness or immaturity. People decide to intertwine their life stories and then decide they didn't want that after a while. They make up excuses to split up because they're too weak to make things better. Yes there are exceptions but the problem is that those who believe in divorce think that their case is deserving of an exception for some reason. Most of the time there is a lack of commitment and selfishness takes hold. It takes two but that's the point of marriage: to stick by each other. I truly admire those who stay in imperfect situations and try to make them better until death. THAT is commitment. THAT is promise. Anything less is just imitation.

I tell married people all the time now to go home and "love your spouse." And this is why: I believe God gave us the ability to promise, commit, love and create. All of those things work together. The result of those verbs (mostly action verbs, by the way) is art. What you have created together can never give more joy and fulfillment than what you may create alone.