Today I realized how much joy I had working on my remodeling project. So after dinner, I used the opportunity to teach my oldest granddaughters two important principles about imitating God.

After supper, I said there were two important principles I noticed as I worked downstairs on the plumbing and framing. First, I was being creative in moving the plumbing around and putting up walls for the new home. I told them that they are creative when they help their mommy make cookies or help with the supper prep. And mommy and grandma are creative with all the different kinds of meals they make.  Being creative is just like our very creative Lord. Imagine how many different kinds of flowers exist, or kinds of bird or dogs or even the looks of people! Moses wrote in Genesis, “Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.” (Gen. 1:24 NKJ) David wrote,

⁷ All sheep and oxen– Even the beasts of the field,⁸ The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. ⁹ O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth! (Ps. 8:7-9 NKJ)

Then I also mentioned that creativity take a lot of work. I am tired at the end of the day, yet have a great sense of satisfaction with the accomplishments. When they make things it will take work and hard work creates the most blessing for others! So I related it to the work that God directed to Adam before the fall, “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” (Gen. 2:15 NKJ)

God’s direction “to tend” means to “work” and the phrase “keep it” means to “guard it and make it better than you found it.” So I summarized it for them and said, “When we are working hard and being creative, we’re imitating the Lord and blessing others! What a great sense of satisfaction! What a contrast to the way the world operates!

Are you imitating the Lord with creativity and hard work? Do you work with joy or with complaint? Do you have a sense of joy and accomplishment when you are creating and working hard that you are imitating the Lord?

Pass it on – the world needs this!