Lego is a very popular gift in my house.  All of the family members enjoy playing with these little plastic bricks with many sets of varying degrees of difficult finding their way into our possession.  I heard on a documentary only recently state that in the Lego manufacturing plant in Denmark it is estimated that 6,000,000 bricks are produced every minute!

Every January in Melbourne is an event called ‘Brickvention’, the Lego Convention held in the Exhibition Building. It may sound quite lame, but it is actually an awesome event where keen Lego enthusiasts can be display their creations of colourful plastic. Now some of these displays are people showing sets they have built as they appear on the box according to the instructions. While I appreciate the time and effort that has gone into these displays, I am always more impressed with the creations that come pure imagination. This may mean that they have altered the standard set somehow and sometimes they have created something completely new and unique.

If you want to see this type of creativity on steroids, may I suggest that you check out the tv show ‘Legomasters’. I am amazed at the imagination that spawns the reality of some truly epic creations with not a single instruction manual in sight. I watch this show in awe with my youngest as we marvel at the beautiful end results from these relatively simple coloured plastic bricks.

I look at these models with greater respect as it is an indicator to me that they have chosen to dream ‘outside the box’, setting their creativity and imagination free.  Doing so, I know from experience, is a far scarier option than being contained by other’s pre-set designs.  There is nothing wrong with living like that, but the world is a more beautiful space for me when I risk failure by capturing something unscripted and unique.  That is where the fear begins to kick in … if I do things differently, what if it doesn’t work?  What if people don’t like it?

I have discovered that for some time I have allowed the fear of other’s opinions (and expectations) hold me back from offering my whole potential.  I have been choosing to limit my output or at the very least, modify it, and while it is the safest option for my self-esteem, it is not being true to who I am.  God made me, with my big vision dreams and passions, and I need to embrace that more, to fully live up to who He wants me to be.

While following the set directions gives an expected and predictable result, when we are brave enough to partner with God and dream beyond what we think we are capable of, we can create amazing things together.  The Bible tells me that God is able to do immeasurably more than all I can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within me (Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20) and therein lies the key – God at work in me.

May I be brave enough to live more ‘outside the box’ and may you be also.

Be blessed.