The words from that book continue to captivate my mind.

“To wake up every morning with the passion to create!”

I take a deep breath. To wake up in the morning was not an easy task. I remember how unpleasant it was when I was a kid and was awakened by my father turning on his radio aloud. I still wanted to sleep for a little while. That blanket felt so comfortable, I did not want to part with it for the rest of my life. “It is time to take a bath!” Ouch, the water was cold in Malang city at that time, especially in such a morning. Imagining the cold water made me tremble. No! I was not passionate to wake up in the morning!

               It takes me decades to find that passion. At 5.00 am every morning, no matter the alarm rings or not, I will certainly wake up. And my mind will automatically running like a car engine being started in the morning. “Which fish will lay eggs today?” I will get up from my bed while my wife is still fast asleep, I will go to my ponds, and in the dim of dawn I take a peek silently at my ponds to see which fishes at which ponds are mating. Yes, I love to breed goldfish, and I have a lot of ponds to do that. No time to be lazy in bed every morning. There is no desire to sleep a little more even when I sleep late last night. I have to take care of these fishes with their eggs. I never even think about passion. But, that is passion!

               What makes you passionate this morning?

               Returning from my ponds, I wake my children up. They have to go to school. I can see the reluctance in their faces. I tell them,”The first thing you need to do when you wake up in the morning is … not to brush your teeth, not to tidy your blanket, … but to smile!” And they grin impassionately. Do not resemble a smile at all. But I understand. It is I who smile in my heart. Was not I like them before?

               The book I read about talks about humans being created to mimic their Creator. The cool terminology is the Imago Dei. Then, what can be mimicked? The first thing a Creator did was … obviously, to create. So, if a person wants to mimic his Creator, he can involve himself in the act of creating. As you wake up, think, what can you create today? That is roughly the book’s train of thought. Humans find their passion when they put themselves in line with their Creator’s purpose.

               In my opinion, this is cool.

               Well, there are discussions concerning the meaning of “to create,” what are the differences between to create and to make, and so on. I do not care. I think more about how to live it out. I would like to wake up every morning with the passion to create!

               But, to create what?

               I am not a musician. It is impossible for me to create a song. I am not a scientist. To build a new rocket is not in my capability. Maybe if I were a factory owner, I could think of new products I could create. Too bad I do not have a factory. What, then, can I create?

               Can to bring to life new goldfish variants be considered as to create? I likes to crossbreed goldfish to bring out new colors. My recently finished project is the Panda Ranchu, a rare breed which took me more than five years to complete. I also creates Ranchu with black and brown pattern, a hard to find color! My newest project is to create the Yellow Oranda, it is still on progress. I enjoyed these processes much, though they took years of my time. If this breeding activitiy can be considered as the act of creating, then I am lucky to be able to wake up every morning and think about them passionately, however insignificant this is compared to finding new vaccines or creating Picasso’s masterpieces.

               But how if someone does not even have any material like a goldfish to create? Does it mean he cannot wake up every morning with the passion to create? Will the professionals not in the field of research be discriminated from this sublime passion? I don’t think so. There are many things even more essential that can be created out of nothing. One of them is … to create the happiness of the people around us.

               To wake up every morning with the passion to create happiness! This everybody can do. This is as easy as to wake up every morning with the commitment to smile and greet every person I meet today. Or to wake up with the commitment to make my spouse happy today. Does not need large amount of capital! You just need a smile, or a hand. A hand? Yes, a hand to massage your wife, or to make a cup of hot tea! Or to wake up each morning with the passion to be a solution at office, or to spread positive ideas on the social media! Is it not a happy thought, with a bit of fairy dust, will make us fly?

               My wife loves to sell. She sells anything. Every morning, what makes her passionate is to think what to sell today. Does selling fruits have any connection with to create? I think so. Selling fruits is part of creating a culture of eating healthy, which in turn will create a healthier society, which is in the heart of God. Cool, right? So I tell my wife, sell whatever you want to sell today, except my heart!

               Wish you a passionate creating!

Hermanto

17 Mei 2018