In the Hebrew myth of Creation

In the Hebrew myth of Creation, the God Elohim creates everything in six days. He creates everything with the power of His Word. He speaks, "Let there be.." and things come into being.

Yet in spite of Elohim’s limitless power, He took six days to complete all of Creation. The whole Universe could have come into being just on the first day of the Beginning. But that was not how God created.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep. The Spirit of God was brooding over the face of the waters."

We creatives have much to learn from God Elohim. Even though He could have created everything perfectly in one go, He didn’t. He practiced temperance. So much so in fact, that His first attempt at earth was without form and an empty waste. The Perfect God is not perfectionist, nor stringent on His creativity.

Then He took the rest of the six days of the week building up on that base of formlessness and waste. And from all that chaos, He created the wild beauty of Creation.

As creatives, we must follow God’s lead. We must be willing to simply start creating. We must not demand that our first attempt at art be a masterpiece, or exceptionally good, or assured of favorable reception. We must be willing to churn out "waste" and build our art on that.

One way to do this is to wake up earlier than usual, and in that foggy state of mind between sleepy-headedness and wakefulness, just pick up a pen and write. Write about everything and anything that goes through your mind. Write through that formlessness and waste. Write it all down. This is the practice taught by Dorothea Brande in her book Becoming A Writer. Do this practice every day and you will become more creative.

Isaiah 45:18 says, "For thus says the LORD–Who created the heavens, God Himself, Who formed the earth and made it, Who established it and did not create it to be a worthless waste; He formed it to be inhabited–"I AM the LORD, and there is no one else."

God had a purpose for the base of waste. He wanted to make the earth habitable and teeming with life. So, it’s okay to have a purpose to work toward for your art. You want to breathe life into it. You want it to teem with vitality. You begin humbly, and keep working at it with God’s help.

One more thing we must remember from God Elohim. "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:11).

So work on your craft every day, but make sure you take a break once a week. Make that your Sabbath day, and scheduled an artist date with God instead.