Creating Alongside the Creator

The Art of Presence with God

By Danae Templeton

It’s too difficult to focus when I want to. My attention is a resource that is in short supply—a resource in high demand from social media companies, personal injury lawyers with billboards on the side of the highway, sugary snack package designers, news writers, small businesses selling embroidered sweatshirts or cute shoes with frogs on them or a special charm to dangle from my rearview mirror. I know that having my phone by my bed decreases the quality of my sleep; I charge it in my bedroom anyway. I know that keeping my phone on my desk distracts me from my work; the buzzing draws me away anyway.

When so much in our lives grabs at our attention, slowing down and taking space to focus and be present is critical. Our desire to create, to make something new alongside God, helps us to slow down and focus. It reflects His character. It is an invitation to be with Him.

What is Sub-Creation?

J.R.R. Tolkien invented a term that he called “sub-creation.” God Himself is the true and ultimate Creator. He created something from nothing, speaking the world into being. The gods in Tolkien and C. S. Lewis’s fictional worlds sang creation into existence, joined by the songs of all things. Yet we, as God’s creations, can participate in stewarding the world and loving His creation through sub-creation—creating from existing matter. Remixing it into something new.