Lauren van Vliet, author

There’s a lot going on these days: Spring is clearly on its way (at least in my little corner of the world); I am in the middle of demolishing my Camp NaNaNoWri (National Novel Writing Month) goal; liturgically, we are in the Easter season; and the Covid-19 Pandemic continues, drastically changing how people live and work. Add to this the natural unfolding of events in my personal life, and one could say there’s a lot going on.

Are imperfect, but the story of the women at the tomb in Matthew 28 have been resonating profoundly. They go to the tomb to mourn their friend and teacher, only to be told that he has risen from the dead. Their response: ‘fear and great joy’ (Mt 28:8, NRSV).

I wouldn’t say I’ve experienced ‘fear’ per se. I’ve been sad: that our family Easter dinner was cancelled, that I can’t hug my parents, and that I can’t visit with my friends the way we usually do.

For every time I feel sad, there are so many more where I feel deep joy. I’ve been connecting with friends, especially those in other time zones, more frequently because we have more time. I’ve been enjoying the spring blooms and sunshine. And, my creativity is thriving, more than it has in a long time. These are the areas where the Resurrection joy overflows abundantly.

And in the search for how to channel this abundance, I stumbled across Matt Tommey’s #QuarantinedCreative challenge. Everyday for about three weeks, he’s posting a creative prompt, and offering some teaching about faith and creativity. While many of the people participating are visual artists, but I feel the strong pull to participate with my words (and there’s nothing that says I can’t – it’s a creativity challenge).

The first prompt is: beauty from ashes, or create from something we would otherwise throw away (based on Isaiah 61:3). What I am creating is this blog post, as a commitment to the #QuarantinedCreative challenge. I’ve signed up for so many challenges, on Facebook, by email, for writing, for healthy living, even for dancing. And, despite my good intentions, I have almost always ‘thrown’ them away at some point. I might stick with it for a few days, but in the end, I don’t follow through.

Not everything may end up on the blog, or even on my Facebook page, but I feel the creative Spirit breathing life, so I may as well follow it. Feel free to follow along as well!

You can find the #QuarantinedCreative challenge on Facebook by searching the hashtag.