Cuir an cèill

"For God spoke, and it came to be..." Psalm 33.9

In a seminar yesterday I was struck by words attributed to the Scottish Gaelic poet, Angus MacNicol: "I write to discover what I have to say..." Such a statement could serve as the confession of a blogger!

Yet there is truth here. Often we only really discover who were are and what we believe in, when we let these profound truths about ourselves out into the open. Gaelic renders this act as "a' cur an cèill", which translates as "giving expression (to)". It's not simply a creative gesture, it's a holy task. The Bible describes God as speaking creation into being. In other words, the universe happened when God gave expression to what was on his mind.

Imagine the potential if, instead of keeping bottled up through fear or modesty, everyone gave expression to their creative urge? There would be some miss-fires and false starts of course but there would surely be some creative gems, as you would expect from those made in the image of God, the ultimate Creator. Returning to MacNicol's aphorism, for "write" one could substitute "play", "sing", "dance" - whatever activity gets your juices flowing. Just get started and see what happens. If it doesn't work, try again and, when it does, give the glory to God, from whom all good things come and who loves giving to those who use his gifts...