'To Bless All Mankind' July 10, 2017 Issue

The ‘creative Principle’ we reflect

Liz Butterfield Wallingford

Adapted from an article published in The Christian Science Monitor, October 14, 2015.

The ability to express creativity and innovation doesn’t belong just to people of a certain nationality or in a certain line of work; it applies to all of us. Thinking about the global need for innovative growth—as the editorial on the facing page points to—I’m reminded of this statement by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science: “The creative Principle—Life, Truth, and Love—is God” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 502). God being the “creative Principle,” the only creator, then His creative activity must be as inexhaustibly infinite as God Himself is.

Furthermore, divine Mind, God, is eternally expressing itself in us, God’s spiritual children, made in His image and likeness. This means that qualities such as creativity—and the discernment to know how to express it in a unique, inspired way—are innate in everyone. They can’t be inhibited any more than our relation to God could disintegrate.

In the Bible, we read: “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good” (Ephesians 4:28). We don’t need to steal others’ work or ideas to get ahead, because the true source of creative activity is not a human personality or a particular brain—it’s the divine Mind we all reflect. As Christ Jesus explained, “I can of mine own self do nothing” (John 5:30). An honest desire to more clearly understand God as the one true Mind can inspire creative solutions, even if we’re feeling stuck.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

The family bond that cannot be broken