OH HEY CREATIVE SOUL Words: Alyce Aldous
Alyce, from our Greater Springfield Campus in QLD, is a qualified art therapist who uses expressive mediums such as play, dance, drama, photography, writing & visual arts to promote mental health and wellbeing. She currently works as a child, youth and family counsellor with a focus on early intervention, client-centred and strengths-focused practice.
He sees you! Do not be afraid, this is the safe place. He has seen you hesitate to pick up that camera. Go on, capture the glint in their eye, the beauty of creation, the important milestone. It is time to highlight the rhythms of life from a perspective that is all your own. Choosing to go further – to find the story and honestly believe in it. What if your stumbling words, your fledgling poems, simple chords, emerging sounds, paused frames... were toddlers, taking their first steps, tumbling, trying, skinning their knees, squealing with glee? What if it felt messy and uncomfortable like you’d been thrown around in a mud fight? What if in the process, you were discovering yourself, your gift, your place? Do you think in that process, God would hold you at a distance, disown you, hide you, forget you? As David grieved in Psalm 13, longing to been seen... He will breathe life into your Spirit, light to move you from despair before your heart closes. He has seen you in that hidden place. He has listened to your frustration and apprehensions. The part in your story no one knows. He has walked it with you. And in that place, He was protecting you, shielding you, holding you. Letting you ramble along weedy paths only you know. Leaning close to hear you whisper secrets and learning what you needed. Giving you room to grow, a chance to shine and space to breathe. Breathe/Selah. It’s time to step out into the light. Let the Spirit in you create, speak, and then create again. Take that one stroke, one photo, one moment, one stretch for the high kick. The surrender is not about perfecting a product but simply starting (and He’s in that process too). The dance of discovery comes where the shadow and light become companions. So find your companions, your people, your community, and cultivate a place that is collaborative, immersive, expressive and creative. Sit in the flow and explore your gifts, your whole self, your identity, and your roots again. Contained and comforted within this space, may you find healing, wholeness and clarity for the next chapter of your creative story. He loves you as you are. He is with you and He is working in you. You are seen and you are known. Welcome to the safe place.