In our pragmatic culture we usually see art as optional. We drill this into kids from an early age. We tell them to be practical and belittle their dreams because we can’t imagine how they’ll make any money pursuing them. But the truth is, art is indispensable. Art gives us meaning. There are things that cannot be understood with pure reason—like love and beauty, to name two.

Art helps us understand our world. It does that because it helps us transcend our world. I said that listening to Arvo Pärt lifted me out of myself. Art has the power to point us to the divine, to the ultimate Artist. It doesn’t answer all the questions, but it can shine a light on questions we didn’t even know we had. And art requires something of us. At the most basic level it can stir us to gratitude. But it can also awaken the creative imperative in us.

As people, made in the image of our Creator, we have to do more than merely produce. We have to create, to express, to give life to the ideas inside us. The cool thing is that creativity works like a muscle; the more we use it, the stronger it gets.