Painting a Poor Copy
I have a theory. God’s reaction to our creative efforts is similar to what we feel towards our children’s. When my two-year-old sang the ABCs and got half the letters wrong, it was the most adorable thing I’d ever heard. When my five-year-old drew stick people that appeared to have squashed spiders for hands, I delighted in those precious pictures. While we can’t exactly ascribe human emotions to God, we are made in his likeness. There must be some parallel.
I’m confident that God loves our creative efforts specifically when we show them to him. How many times have you heard a child yell, “Watch me, Mom!” or “Look at this, Dad!” Call out to God the next time you do something fun.
The famous line “then sings my soul” is a metaphor for an indescribable joy towards God. You can make it more literal by singing that song alone with the music so loud you don’t even have to listen to yourself. Sing to God for the reward of his joy and yours. Imagine him saying, “Honey, that is not how I intended that voice to sound, but your effort is so cute I love it anyway.”
Find something fun and creative and do it for God. If singing isn’t your thing, knit him a lopsided scarf, paint a picture you’d have to explain to people, write a poem that stretches license to the breaking point or just dance. If you happen to have talent, God will smile at you. If you don’t, he’ll smile anyway. Anyone who happens to watch might say you dance like a drunk rooster. But if you dance like a drunk rooster who loves God, your soul will sing.