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November 07, 2005
Imagine that
I was thinking about the attitude of Christians toward the role of imagination in our lives. I grew up in a dysfunctional fundamentalist environment that considered imagination something that smelled of the smoke of Hell. It took me years to recover from some of that garbage.
The evangelical church seems to be more balanced now about the role of imagination, and in some circles the church is eagerly embracing creativity and imagination as a means of expressing biblical truths.
Some years ago, I thought about how I might use my imagination to enhance my own spiritual life. It started when I heard the old riddle: "What's the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian? A Christian gets up in the morning and says, "Good morning, Lord." A non-Christian gets up and says, "Good Lord, it's morning."
I wondered what might happen if I made that a practice in life. Would it change anything if my first conscious act upon awakening was telling God good morning? I mean, I spend a lot of time talking to myself, and to people I can't see, so why not God? At least he listens to me.
Well, I tried it, and to my surprise I found that it did, indeed make a difference. When my initial focus was on God, somehow it started my day in a way that gave me a better outlook on the world.
Then, after some time trying this, I wondered what it might look like from the other side of the sky. You know, what happened in Heaven when I said, "Good morning, Lord"? Of course, there is not a lot of scripture on the subject, but I found a little, and then I used my sanctified imagination to fill in the blanks.
So, when I woke up (not every morning, I must confess) and would tell God good morning. And on the screne of my imagination, I would see Jesus perking up when he hears my voice. He breaks into a big smile of delight, leaps from his throne -- that's the one at the right hand of the Father, you know -- and RUNS over to the edge of heaven. He leans over the guard rail, beaming, looking...
Wait a minute. Is something wrong? Guardrail? You never heard of a guardrail in heaven? Well, OF COURSE they have guardrails. How would it be if Jesus fell ran over, and in his excitement slipped, and fell out of heaven? It would never do. OSHA would be all over the place. So they have guardrails.
So anyway, Jesus is leaning over the rail, beaming down at me, saying, "AVI! I'M SO GLAD TO SEE YOU! I've been waiting all night for you! Let's go skip rocks or something. Let's go hang out together and just talk!"
And you know, it changed my whole day.
Posted by Larry Baden at November 7, 2005 12:39 PM
Comments
I love that picture! The delight in Jesus to your good morning reminds me of a little boy chirping good morning to a mom or dad after having been away from them all night in dream land. The little one can't wait to see those parents and the parents are utterly delighted to hear that little ones voice.
Regarding imagination, I have a very active one. I have always used stories to teach my son. While I teach him also the Word of God, stories are an age old method of teaching things that is profitable as long as it doesn't violate scripture. From the time I was young, I have written stories and told them. Imaginary lands that I made up for my younger brother and sister still live in their imaginations today. The remember those stories with amazing clarity! I was completely surprised to learn that after all these years they still remember them so well and have told their kids about those stories that I made up and told.
My son will recall those stories from when he was little and I am grateful that I received Christ when he was three because my stories of course changed somewhat on that day. My stories began to focus on truths of the Bible and how to use imagination to convey the wonderful messages of scripture.
I think the active use of imagination is part of life and God given. After all He is the most creative of all. Once maybe we were in the imagination of Gods mind and heart. Now we exist, and live and move and have our being. When we exercise imagination as Christians, we imitate God. Thats how I feel about imagination.
Posted by: Elise at December 7, 2005 11:26 AM
