...And a Little Child Shall Lead Them

My wife and I once had a six-year-old foster son that we took down to Capital Reef National Park. As far as we knew, he had never been to Southern Utah and we were excited to take him camping, hiking, and sightseeing in that beautiful country. We loaded up the car with all our gear and started down the road. An hour into the drive he asked, “Will we ever see our house again?”

“Of course,” I said. I was confused. Why would he think we might never see our house again?

My wife reassured him, “We’re just going camping for a few days and then we’ll go right back home.”

“Oh, okay,” he said and then went back to saying and doing all the normal things six-year-olds say and do on long road trips like constantly needing to pee and repeatedly asking, “Are we there yet?”

But my wife and I were concerned. Did he really think we were leaving our home forever? After we talked it over together, we realized that was exactly what he thought. You see, before he came to us, his family had been homeless off and on for his entire life. When they went “camping” that meant they were living out of a car or tent indefinitely and he would never see the place they had formerly called home again. As far as he knew, we’d been kicked out of our house.

The amazing thing to me was that he’d helped us pack our stuff and climbed into the car without complaint. He was completely trusting and willing to come with us even though he thought we were leaving home forever.

How many of us would be so trusting? How many of us have the faith to so cheerfully submit and take a journey like that? Would we have the courage to wholeheartedly believe that we would be cared for and guided by a loving parent? Would we obediently leave on a journey like this if it was asked of us?

Every creative act is a journey. By emulating the qualities of children like my foster son, we are far more likely to find success on these journeys. Furthermore, it’s no coincidence that the things that make us more creative people are so often the same things that make us better, happier, more successful people in all aspects of life.

Consider Matthew 18: 2-4 which reads, “And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

The words of King Benjamin in Mosiah 3:19 also that teach us that we must “…becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”

Even Pablo Picasso said, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

Another child we can all learn from: Roald Dahl's Matilda
Illustration by Sir Quentin Blake

While it's clear that we need to “become as little children,” this doesn’t mean we should be childish. It won’t help our creativity to throw temper tantrums or pick our noses. However, it will increase our creative capacity if we try to be like my foster son on that camping trip. Namely, trust, have faith, submit, be obedient, and believe.

• Trust that you have been given important and useful talents, and you have been given them for a reason.
• Have faith that you will be guided and cared for by a loving Father in Heaven as you strive to develop and use those talents. 
• Be humble and submit to the will of Heavenly Father by doing your best to use your talents as He wants you to use them. 
• Be obedient to the promptings of your heart as you work so that your Heavenly Father can continue to work through you.
• Believe that you can accomplish all these things with His help. 

Later on that same trip to Capital Reef National Park, our foster son was filling out a worksheet so that he could earn his “Junior Ranger” badge. One of the questions he had to answer was, “Where do crows live?” The answer they were looking for was in nests. But this six-year-old had a much more profound answer. He said, “In the wind.”

I thought about this for a moment and said, “Yes, yes they do.” Because it was true. Where do crows really live? Where they are doing what they were designed to do: soar on the wind. The same is true for us. We are creative beings. We are given talents so that we can use them. We need only become as little children so that we can begin to live. And where do we truly live? Where we are doing what we were designed to do: using our talents to create and serve.