As a creative individual, I have often been frustrated by logical people who demanded to know the logic behind my creativity. How do you explain something you feel and see from the inside out?

At the same time, I know that my creative mind has stumped and confused those who live by logical thinking. Communication challenges were often because they couldn’t understand how I wasn’t understanding what they were asking, and visa versa.

The fact is, God created both logic and creativity to manifest in human beings. For us to understand the Body of Christ, we must first understand ourselves! Having been raised by a logical Mother and having a logical sister, I was the odd-gal-out, and the message that was communicated to me was that I was wrong and unworthy because I couldn’t do what they naturally could do. Instead, I was creative – and they saw that as sneaky. (Hey, we have to be creative to get out of trouble, right?) Entertaining and convenient at times, but completely wrong … for who I was born to be.

There is no doubt in my mind that the same experience would have been mirrored in the life of a logical child with creative parents. 

Believing that we are wrong for who we are is usually the basis of all conflicts and conversational disasters. We struggle to communicate effectively with those who have different perspectives and motives because we might not be using language that resonates with them.

I remember leaving our church sanctuary late one evening just as the sun was setting. Looking up in the sky, I saw an explosion of color piercing through two giant gray clouds that appeared to be clashing together and then parting. It reminded me of the Biblical event of parting the Red Sea. I ran back in and brought out my associate to see what I was seeing.  She laughed and said, “Okayeeee”. It’s clouds. It’s a sunset.” She just couldn’t see it. She thought I was amusing. (But sometime later, she ran to me excitedly because she saw a cloud that definitely looked like something other than a cloud!” (That was fun.)

Years later I started to understand that I was gifted with being a creative individual – and that was okay. Because I think in metaphors all the time, I joyfully told my associate “I get it! I’m the illustrations in a book, and you are the text in the book!”

She looked at me with amusement – and pity, and said, “Don’t knock yourself down like that!” Seriously? I get to be the fun part! 

Who doesn’t pick up a book because the cover caught their eye, then flip through the pages to see if there are any illustrations, and then flip to the back to see the synopsis of the contents of the book? If it weren’t for the illustrations, the stories, and the CREATIVE parts of information that we are given, we’d be bored out of our minds with half the population not understanding what the other half was talking about.

BUT …

If it wasn’t for the statistics, information, and facts presented, we’d have lots of illustrations and stories … and tons of assumptions and interpretations. The two work together and God has ensured that there are people gifted with both types of approaches, and those that are in between. There is no one right way and the other a wrong way. 

Jesus said, “I did not come to do away with the law (logic) but to fulfill it” (with love … God is love and God is the Creator) [Interpretation is mine – take it as an example or metaphor that is well worth your time in examining how this changes approaches to how we see others.”]

I decided to get creative – and ask a logical AI assistant to describe the difference between being logical and creative. The following text is an insightful answer.  Just think what a difference it would make for us to recognize one another through a different lens and work together to bring understanding and clarity to our relationships. I bet we’d get a lot more accomplished! (and perhaps more marriages would be saved as differences were not just accepted, but celebrated and honored!)