Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Karen Spears Zacharias

Home
Evangelical
The Creative’s Path

The Creative’s Path

Last updated on: July 24, 2013 at 5:30 am by Karen Spears Zacharias

The Creative’s Path 2013-07-24T05:30:52+00:00 Karen Spears Zacharias

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Whenever people ask how I became a writer I tell them Vietnam made me a writer.

I have met people who don’t get it, the way my identity as a writer, as a person, is so intricately shaped by war. The Vietnam war of all things.

I was nearly 40 before I found a way to break through the agonizing silence I had experienced as the remains of that war.

Writing taught me how to move beyond the hurt, to the healing.

A writer must seek out the juxtapositions in life.

Where others see hardship, a writer finds tenderness.

Writing taught me to look for beauty wherever I go.

Creating restored a sense of wonder within me.

Writing taught me how to look for the poetry in tombstones.

Creating gives order to the chaos.

Creating is how God gives definition to the disparate bits of our lives, growing beauty from ashes.

Hitler was an artist, did you know that?

He created works of wonder before he became the mastermind of great evil.

Who, save God, can know what makes a person abandon creating, and choose instead to devote themselves to destruction?

We all choose what path we will take: To be that person who creates, or to be that person who destroys.

The notion that how we choose shouldn’t matter to anyone else but us is a bunch of hooey. Of course it matters. Every single one of these allied troops lost their lives because Hitler decided that he wasn’t a good enough artist to be truly successful.

Somewhere along the line, Hitler decided he was a much better destroyer than he was a creator.

He employed his boundless imaginations toward unimaginable horrors, and in so doing, changed the course of history.

Forever.

Don’t be mistaken.

The path we take matters.

Always.

Previous Post

July 23, 2013

Poverty of a different sort

Next Post

July 26, 2013 What Zeb & the 505th taught me

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category child abuse Military ministry pop culture prayer Sports Uncategorized Veterans Day

Select a Month July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz