It's Christmas Eve 2007 and I am wondering where this year has gone. As I get older, it seems that the days just fly by, which is why I am determined to enjoy every one of them. I don't know how many I have left.
I've been Stateside for a few weeks, which has given me ample opportunity to listen to Christmas music. The men who wrote the carols of old were theologians who had a deep grasp on the significance of Jesus' birth. If you go past the first verse of some carols, you hear some magnificent truths about Jesus and the implications for mankind of His coming. Once hymn that caught my attention this year is Hark the Herald Angels Sing!
WHO WROTE IT?
All credit for Hark the Herald Angels Sing is usually attributed to Charles Wesley, the brother of Methodism's founder, John Wesley. Charles was a prolific song writer, with almost 9,000 hymns to his credit. Charles only employed sombre, slow and solemn music for his lyrics, however, so this particular carol was sung to a tune other than we know for at least 100 years after it was written in 1739.
In 1840, a man named Felix Mendelssohn wrote a commemorative cantata to honor Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. What does that have to do with this carol? Nothing except that a man named William Cummings heard the cantata and felt that one of the melodies could better serve the magnificent lyrics that Wesley had penned for Hark the Herald. Cummings adapted Mendelssohn's melody to Wesley's lyrics and the result was the version of Hark the Herald Angels Sing! that we know and sing today. So Hark the Herald is the result of a century-long creative collaboration by three men who never met.
CHRISTMAS CREATIVITY
This strikes me as a classic example of the simplicity and interconnection of the creative process. Your creativity doesn't have to involve something completely new or original. Cummings took two existing things--Mendelssohn's music and Wesley's words--to create something new again. He improved something that already existed to create something fresh that has impacted the world for more than a century.
As we end 2007, I want to begin a new discussion of the creative process to encourage you to take your own creativity more seriously in 2008. You are a creative person! The ideas you have can change the world, if you will stop discounting them as meaningless or insignificant. You don't have to invent something totally new to qualify as creative; you just have to act on your ideas and release them to the world. With God as your agent, the world will then act to endorse the very creativity that you may be dismissing or taking for granted.
Do you have any good ideas, even if they are only to improve something that already exists? If you do, take heart and remember Wesley, Mendelssohn, and Cummings. Those three men who never met collaborated to create something memorable. There is no reason why you can't do the same.
From my house to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a creative and purposeful New Year!
Feel free to post your comment to this Memo on the site where it is located.
*****************************************************************************
We have launched a new site called A Better Zimbabwe at www.abetterzim.com. Its purpose is to include only positive material about Zimbabwe, what it once was and what it can be again! I have posted several articles there and I invite you to check it out. Then read the "rules" and write your own story about that great nation. I'll give you a heads up on the rules -- no negatives and no politics! Let's tell the world about the good things happening in Zimbabwe in these turbulent times. You can subscribe to receive the posts on the site itself.
I also posted two articles on my blog about Zim entitled Buddy, Can You Spare $175,000? and Turbulence. Check them out and let me know what you think by adding your comments. You can also subscribe there to receive my regular blog updates.
As we end the year, please consider a contribution to my purpose work around the world. I offer much of what I write and do at no cost and will continue to do so. It would be most helpful if you would consider a year-end gift if you have found benefit in my work as you walk out your own PurposeQuest. You can make a donation using a credit card by going to my website and using PayPal, or you can send a tax-deductible check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 91099, Pittsburgh, PA 15221 USA. Thank you for helping me do the work that I was created to do.
In January, I will begin a new Bible study from Matthew's gospel. You can subscribe to receive those weekly studies by going to the site where they are posted.
Thank you so much for the inspiring Monday Memos that
you have always sent to me. Its a great honour to read
such rich messages from a concerned brother in Christ.
I met you in the Nairobi Pentecostal Church, and am
currently residing in South Africa.
May God richly bless you and your family and
everything you do. Am newly married and my husband
and I wish you a happy new year full of God's
blessings!
Pray for us too and keep the memos coming!
Love and prayers.
Kate& ALex
Posted by: Catherine | December 27, 2007 at 09:15 AM
i read one of your books, "Unlocking the power of your purpose," and i was really impressed by what i read in the book. infact you really encouraged me. i was really blessed.
i am a 35yr old male. i live in Kaduna State of Nigeria in Africa. i'm a firm believer in purpose, but i've realised that not many people know much about their purpose here on earth. Once more, i'd like to say that your book really had a positive impact on me. i'm very grateful.
Posted by: Enemali | January 02, 2008 at 09:58 PM