What Kind of Culture Are You Making?

     Meet my cousin Jan, a quilter who told me she “auditions” pieces of fabric to see which patterns work best together. Her sister Judy is a pianist who can resonate a room with a pipe organ. Another cousin excels in hosting. Another is a whiz with words. Another is an artist. Another has developed the skill of encouraging others. Another raises exotic birds. And my sister is a master gift-giver. We are all “culture makers.”     
     I’m talking about the potential we each have to do something that changes our immediate world. Author Adam Savage explains, “Whenever we’re driven to reach out and create something from nothing, whether it’s something physical like a chair, or more temporal and ethereal, like a poem, we’re contributing something of ourselves to the world.”     
     When we do that, he says “we’re not putting what we make into the local culture, what we make IS the culture.”     
     What a privilege. Because I carry the image of God-the-Creator, I can influence the culture around me for good. I may do this by lifting up someone with a word, sending an encouraging text, sharing a meal, or shoveling a sidewalk. When I do this, I’m putting myself into the world to make it a better place.     
     Yet what a responsibility. I can choose to make the world a worse place by my words and actions, too.     
     So what kind of culture am I creating?