One of the foundational pillars of Heartstone Journey is: Helping men discover their authentic manhood in Jesus Christ

If you Google ‘masculinity’ you will be presented with numerous definitions of what true manhood is. Yes, getting to the core of what manhood is includes the personification of courage, bravery and sacrifice…but many have bought into the narrative that these terms exclude the creative side of men.

To level set things…here is how authentic manhood is defined here on Heartstone Journey.

Authentic manhood is not a call to be macho or a lunk head. It’s a call for men to be strengthened in their inner core, in their souls, in their character, in their integrity and in their fidelity to the truth of the Living God. Authentic men will step up in the home and lead with Godly leadership, they will love their wives sacrificially, they will pursue their wives and serve them with intentionality.

Creativity.

Everyone is creative and that creativity is woven into the fabric of our DNA by God Himself. God made humanity to be creative people and all of us has a divinely-inspired impulse to create stuff. Creativity is not an easy endeavor and usually takes hard work. It takes hard work to: build a garden, make an engine, draw a painting, make a house, make a piece of furniture, write a book, write a poem, fill in the blank _____. Men hear this — your creative side does not somehow diminish your masculinity, it magnifies it!

Here’s the fire-pit and log chairs I made.

I love working the land I’ve been blessed with, and my God given creativity shows up in various ways. Building things with my hands such as decks, sheds, room additions, fire-pits; creating things in cyberspace like computer programs and websites; cooking a gourmet meal, writing (publishing) a book, articles for various sites and poetry.

Of the creative things mentioned, I’d like to highlight writing poetry. Yup, poetry…because “real men” are romantics at heart!

History reveals many stories that include great warrior poets, as adept in the battlefield as they were with their creative words. A great majority of poetry has been written by men and yet poetry has somehow evolved into a “less manly” affair. The First World War became known as the Poet’s War, many Japanese samurai were poets and even Benjamin Franklin even recognized that writing poetry accelerated his development as a writer.

Here is a sampling of poetry that has inspired me and written by other men:

• Sea Fever by John Masefield
• Invictus by William Ernest Henley
• Pioneers! O Pioneers by Walt Whitman
• Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson (featured in the Dead Poet’s Society)
• Who Will Cry for the Little Boy? by Antwone Fisher

Here is a sampling of the poetry I’ve published on Heartstone and in my book ‘Heartstone: A Journey out of the midnight of my soul’:

• The Four Stones
• It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye!
• Tears
• My Hiding Place

Men, you have creative side given to you by God and He wants you to use those gifts to benefit humanity and to bring Him honor. You have gifts that no one else has and God wants you to steward those gifts because; your family needs your creative gifts, your friends need your creative gifts and we all need your creative gifts.

Don’t waste your creative gifts. Stop with all the excuses and start making stuff for the glory of God!