Remember the old camp song:
It only takes a spark to get a fire going . . .
Of course, that song was talking about God’s love. But it is true of so many things.
I’ve been in a creative slump lately. Especially last month. Nothing I tried spurred me to create. To even want to create.
But as has so often happened in the past, it only takes a spark to kindle my imagination.
Last week, one of my friends from church gave a talk at a brunch called Sisters Table. It’s a once-a-month gathering where someone shares about a relatively unknown hero of the faith, specifically a woman. My friend Tara is a historian. She holds a master’s degree in history and is working on a certificate of historical theology from Reformed Theological Seminary. She has taught at the middle school, high school, and college levels. So I knew whatever she had to say would be right up my alley.
And it was. She held me enthralled with an era of history I don’t know much about—the 5th century. And a place I don’t know much about—Constantinople (now Istanbul). She told us about Pulcheria, a woman who almost singlehandedly kept the church from straying into heresy.
What???
Curiosity sparked my imagination. That spark soon crackled and burned. So much so that I went to my local library and checked out a book on the Byzantine Empire!
Will this book fan those embers of imagination into the flame of a novel? I have no idea. But I’ll feed the fire until it dies out or turns into a raging inferno. Because what I’ve learned over many years is that though the spark is important, it isn’t singular. It can fuel many different fires, one of which might catch.
For now, I’m excited to dive into a new-to-me era and place in history. I love learning new things, no matter where they do or don’t lead. And in the meantime, I will welcome every spark of imagination that ignites my creativity.
Do you dig deeper when something—a novel, a movie, a bit of history—makes you curious? What’s the last thing that sent you on a rabbit trail of discovery?