Guest Post: Kellie

Name: Kellie Stapleton 

Vocation: Teaching

Current Location: Jacksonville, FL

Blog: http://getthewordsout.blogspot.com/

What inspires you to create?

The internet is a huge source of inspiration for me and why I love creating. I'm constantly reading and finding new blogs to read. My favorites are probably

A Beautiful Mess (http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com) 

Enjoy It (http://www.eliseblaha.typepad.com) 

I Heart Run With Scissors (http://www.iheartrunwithscissors.com)

Rockstar Diaries (http://taza-and-husband.blogspot.com) 

Bleubird Vintage (http://bleubirdvintage.typepad.com) 

Oh-Shoot (http://ohshoot.typepad.com/oh-shoot)

and a million more.

I'm also a huge fan (ok, addict) of Pinterest. I'm constantly searching for things that strike my fancy and make me want to create.

I try very hard to make sure that what I create is my own though, never copying. Sometimes it's hard, but I want my work to be my own. While I may follow their guidelines and instructions, I try to add a little bit of me to everything.

How do you feel about censoring movies and music that don't reflect a Christ like worldview?

This is a difficult one. I feel like not many things have a Christ like view. We've become a very secular culture. I'm not sure I agree per say with censoring. I think that everyone should know what they are comfortable with their families and themselves watching and focus on that. ......

Have you ever created something that reflects you spiritually? If so, what? And what does it say about you specifically?

I don't always add things to my projects that reflect my spirituality on purpose. A lot of times, it just appears because my relationship with Christ is so ingrained in me. It's just who I am. In art journaling projects I notice a lot of writing about God and Jesus. It's just always been one of the first things that come to mind. It's a huge part of who I am.

But even when I don't directly talk about Christ in my creativity, He's always present. Leigh once shared a quote with me and I've loved it ever since. It's by the main singer of The Fray. He said

"If you're a painter, paint, but you don't have to have Jesus in every picture. Paint well, and if you paint well enough, they might ask you why you do that."

A year or so ago I stepped in to be the Youth Minister at our church when Leigh left for England. It was a lot of work, but I loved it because of the kids I worked with. One lesson was on trying to focus everything we do around Christ. A couple of my students had some concerns about this. They thought that in doing this with their artwork, that would mean they would have to paint Jesus in every picture. When I shared the quote from Leigh with them, they began to understand. And actually, I began to re-understand (if that's even a word).

God has given us every gift we have. While we may not always include Him directly in our work, by giving our work our all, we show what Christ is all about. We thank Him for our gifts by continuing to work on them. By giving it our all. By doing the very best we can, Sometimes I feel like that's enough. And like The Fray's lead singer said, if we continue to do this, people will ask why and that's when we can truly share our love of our Creator.

In what ways could the church incorporate more creativity into it's worship habits?

In every way possible. While I think I pretty much explained my view on this in the previous answer, I will add one more thing. If God created us, and everything in our world, and everything about us, then why not use every gift as a part of worship. In everything we do, we can worship Him through it.